After the foundation of the People’s Republic of China diplomatic relations made rapid progress in the field of cultural, educational and scientific relations as well. First group of Hungarian students began their studies in Beijing in the autumn of 1950. During this period a huge number of Hungarian technical experts came to China assisting in the industrialization process of country.
After 1978, from the beginning of the “Reform and Opening” policy the bilateral scientific relations also started to develop. The new Chinese leadership followed and studied the Hungarian economic reforms with great interest. Several Chinese politicians, scientists (of course mainly economists) travelled to Hungary for a study trip. During this period an official scientific exchange programme were also established. In 1984, a cooperation agreement was signed between the Hungarian and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which regulates the conditions for scientific cooperation and mobility of researchers between the partner academies.
The bilateral relation has remained balanced in the years following the system change in Hungary, but its intensity did not increase. The scientific relation has started to develop significantly again in the 2000s. In 2002 the two countries signed the Cooperation Agreement on Science and Technology. For implementing the agreement two agencies were named: the National Innovation Office of Hungary (after its restructuring from 2015 the National Research, Development and Innovation Office) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of People’s Republic of China. Under the agreement a joint research fund was established for financing mobility costs of joint projects. Keeping the mobility programme, from 2016 a new fund was established for developing a new technologies, and marketization of the research results. The last Joint Committee Meeting was held in Budapest in 2016.
Over the last 16 years the scientific relations between the universities also has tightened: nearly all Hungarian universities have Chinese partners, and several cooperation agreements were signed on students’ and teachers’ mobility or conducting joint research. In 2006 the first joint inter-university laboratory between the Hungarian Eötvös Lóránd University and the Chinese Wuhan University started to operate.
The Chinese government offers a growing number of scholarship opportunities for Hungarian students, including doctoral courses for the next generation of scientists. From 2013, the Hungarian government also offers a scholarship programme named “Stipendium Hungaricum” for Chinese students on all levels of higher education system (BA, MA, PhD).
The end of 2013, the National Innovation Office and the State Administration Office of Foreign Experts Affairs signed an agreement for expert exchange. Under the terms of the agreement if the Hungarian expert wins a call for doing technical assistance work in China, the Chinese side will cover all the expenses.
In 2014, during high-level prime ministerial visit in China, two agreements were signed between the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and its Chinese partners, one with the Academy of Sciences on joint laboratories and one with the Academy of Social Sciences on setting up a “Modern Hungary and China” research network and financing the related research projects. Wigner Research Centre of Physics of Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Institute of Modern Physics of Chinese Academy established an inter-institutional laboratory in 2016.
Major partner organizations:
Chinese Academy of Sciences:
State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs:
Chinese Association for Science and Technology:
Chinese Scholarship Council:
