The 150 young people who this year won the Hungarian Public Administration Scholarship, and who have completed their six-month period of practical experience in Hungary, are now starting their professional practice abroad.

Thanks to the scholarship programme of the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, young people interested in a career in public administration can gain experience abroad primarily in public administration in European Union Member States. Participants this year are travelling to 27 countries, most of them to Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and France.

The scholarship programme was launched last year, and its aim is to provide a supply of new, well-trained and experienced candidates committed to careers in the civil service. In the first two years of its operation, the programme has given a total of 450 young people a unique opportunity which had not occurred in twenty years since the political transition.

The Hungarian Public Administration Scholarship Programme is part of the public administration reform which began in 2010, and is an important element in the human resources policy of the government, which deliberately offers opportunities to the young and encourages further training for civil servants.

This years’ entrants to the programme started their first six-month period of work and professional experience in March. Now they will spend two months in ministries, government departments, Hungarian representations and international organisations in several European Union countries. In each location there will be one foreign mentor to assist them. The largest number –  31 –  are travelling to Germany, 18 to Belgium and 16 to Austria, but other countries, include the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Malta, Sweden, Slovenia and Turkey. They will report during the programme and at the end on the experience gained. Finally they will spend the last two months of the programme in Hungary, and take part in a number of training programmes related to public administration and the EU.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)