| A complainant came to us protesting the decisions of the Ministry of Education and a Hungarian university, in which the above institutions rejected his daughter's request-who receives child care allowance-for exemption from paying tuition fees. The terms of disbursement of the pregnancy/childbirth benefit that has been determined as an exemption requirement by the Financing Decree is regulated by Article 40 of Act LXXXIII of 1997 on Compulsory Health Insurance. The scope of the Act is ensured in the Hungarian social security system and on the basis of this extends to persons entitled to health insurance services. On the basis of the above we have determined that persons receiving child care allowance from and regulated by the Austrian state and health insurance system, are not covered by the scope of this Act and as such cannot be granted exemption from paying tuition fees. (K-OJOG-977/2004.)
In his petition a complainant protested and found it discriminative that as a German citizen with a Hungarian residence permit he does not receive a Hungarian student card despite having student status with a non-Hungarian higher education institution. It is our position that the provisions of Government Decree No. 30/1999 (II. 15.) on student cards do not violate the constitutional requirements prohibiting discrimination. In accordance with the practice of the Constitutional Court , in case of ensuring benefits has great freedom of deliberation with respect to choosing beneficiaries. If the choosing of beneficiaries was arbitrary then it would constitute a violation of constitutional requirements prohibiting discrimination. In this case it is not arbitrary, as the basis of differentiation is the sensible assumption that the state wishes to support its own citizens by ensuring the primarily financial benefits that can be accessed by a student card. (K-OJOG-706/2004.)
Our office received a request for information regarding the further training and higher education of a German citizen In Hungary. In our reply, we called attention to the regulation according to which the state-financed students of Hungarian higher education institutions can be Hungarian citizens. At the same time a German citizenship does not necessarily exclude the petitioner from state-financed higher education studies provided he has also retained his Hungarian citizenship, because in this case he would be subject to the same regulations and benefits as other student who are Hungarian citizens. Pursuant to Point a) of Paragraph 16 of Article 83, citizens of the countries of the European Economic Area can be admitted to Hungarian higher education institutions under the same conditions as Hungarian citizens. Pursuant to Paragraph (4) of Article 14/A of Government Decree 157/2001 (IX. 12.) on certain issues of the higher education studies of foreigners in Hungary and of Hungarian citizens abroad, students who are citizens of the member states of the European Economic Area are entitled to have student cards and are entitled to take advantage of its benefits. Students of Category F-like German citizens-are entitled, to the same extent as Hungarian students, to educational scholarships and other benefits that are determined by the higher education institution strictly based on educational results connected to the fulfilment of the educational requirements. (K-OJOG-362/2004.)
A college student with a permit to reside in Hungary inquired whether he is eligible to participate in State-financed Training Programme. Pursuant to Point d) of Paragraph (2) of Article 3 of Government Decree 80/2004 (IV. 19.) on the 2004 Financing of Higher Education Institutions Based on Training and Maintenance Capitation Grants, students with foreign citizenship who are subject to the same treatment as students with Hungarian nationality shall be considered state-financed students of higher education institutions. Pursuant to Government Decree 157/2001 (IX. 12.) foreign students with Hungarian residence permits shall be considered state-financed students. Paragraph (3) of Article 14 of the above Decree states that immigrants and foreigners with a residence permit shall be considered as having the same legal status as Hungarian citizens as of the date of issue of the Hungarian identification card or residence permit. (K-OJOG-621/2004.)
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