Abstract:

This study presents the path towards developing Transcarpathian Hungarian-language higher education. It examines the historical, political, and cultural conditions that shaped the creation of Hungarian academic institutions in a multi-ethnic border region marked by frequent regime changes. By tracing key milestones from the Czechoslovak period to the Soviet era, the study highlights the persistent efforts of the Hungarian minority to secure institutional recognition and linguistic rights in higher education. In doing so, it emphasizes how access to mother-tongue education became a crucial means of cultural preservation and collective resilience. Particular attention is given to community initiatives, petitions, and informal academic circles that sought to maintain Hungarian scholarly presence despite restrictive language policies. Situated within the broader discourse on minority education in Central and Eastern Europe, this study reveals how higher education served not only as a field of academic aspiration but also as a vital instrument for sustaining identity, transmitting cultural heritage, and strengthening the long-term cohesion of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia. The study examines the historical trajectory of the formation and aspirations of Hungarianlanguage higher education in Transcarpathia between 1919 and 1991, within the framework of three major political periods: the Czechoslovak, Hungarian, and Soviet eras. Its primary focus is on the development of Hungarian-language higher education during the Soviet period, with particular attention to the establishment and role of Uzhhorod State University after 1945. The authors explore how educational structures were transformed following the Second World War, when the region came under Soviet control and institutions were shaped by Marxist–Leninist ideology. The study provides a detailed analysis of the early efforts to introduce Hungarian-language instruction at the university, including the interrupted initiatives of the 1950s and the emergence of Hungarian philological programme from the 1960s onward. It also addresses linguistic restrictions, the pressures of Soviet educational policy, and the forms of social resistance that emerged through petitions and community movements. The founding of the Hungarology Centre in the late 1980s marked a significant milestone, although an independent Hungarian higher education system did not materialise. The study concludes that aspirations for Hungarian higher education during the Soviet era served not only educational purposes but also became essential instruments for minority identity, linguistic and cultural self-preservation, and community continuity. 

Keywords: Transcarpathia, Hungarian-language higher education, Uzhhorod State University, Hungarology Centre. 

References:

1. Pershyy na Zakarpatti zaklad kolehialʹnoho typu. (1994). [The first college-type institution in Transcarpathia]. 

2. László Brenzovics. (2009). Periody istoriyi Zakarpattya ta yoho ekonomichnyy i sotsialʹnyy stan u ХХ st. [The periods of the history of Transcarpathia and its economic and social situation in the 20th century]. Budapest. 

3. László Brenzovics. (1998). U skladnykh obstavynakh. [In difficult circumstances]. 

4. István Császár. (2013). Spilʹna prezentatsiya 72-yi petytsiyi ta yiyi uchasnykiv. [A joint presentation of the 72nd petition and its participants]. Ungvár. 

5. István Csernicskó – Csilla Fedinec. (2010). Zusyllya Chekhoslovachchyny shchodo movnoyi polityky (1918–1939). [Language policy efforts of Czechoslovakia (1918–1939)]. Budapest. 

6. Csilla Fedinec. (1999). Rozdily z istoriyi uhorsʹkoyi narodnoyi osvity na Zakarpatti (1938– 1991). [Chapters from the history of Hungarian public education in Transcarpathia (1938–1991)]. Budapest. 

7. Csilla Fedinec. (2010). Uhorsʹka kulʹtura v period mizh dvoma svitovymy viynamy. Shkola ta tserkva. [Hungarian culture in the period between the two world wars. School and church]. Budapest. 

8. Csilla Fedinec. (2010). Osvita ta nauka. Uhorsʹka osvita ta internatsionalizm. [Education and science. Hungarian education and internationalism]. Budapest. 

9. József Kobály. (2000). Stan uhorsʹkoyi nauky na Zakarpatti. [The situation of Hungarian science in Subcarpathian Rus’]. 

10. Magocsi, Paul Robert. (1978). Formuvannya natsionalʹnoyi identychnosti Pidkarpat·sʹka Rusʹ, 1848–1948. [The Shaping of a National Identity Subcarpathian Rus’, 1848–1948]. Cambridge– London. 

11. Erzsébet Molnár D. (2023). Porushennya komunistychnoho rezhymu na Pidkarpatti (1944–1953). [The violations of the communist regime in Subcarpathian Rus’ (1944–1953)]. Budapest. 

12. Oficinskij, Roman. Osvita ta nauka. Dytyachyy sadok ta shkola. Profesiyno-tekhnichna osvita. [Education and science. Kindergarten and school. Vocational training]. Budapest. 

13. Ildikó Orosz. (2007). Vid nezalezhnosti do Pomaranchevoyi revolyutsiyi. [From independence to the Orange Revolution]. Ungvár. 

14. Ildikó Orosz. (2023). Pro uhorsʹkomovnu osvitu na Zakarpatti (1946–2021). [On Hungarian-language education in Transcarpathia (1946–2021)]. Budapest. 

15. Ildikó Orosz. (2025). Uhorsʹkomovna osvita na Zakarpatti v pershe desyatylittya stanovlennya ukrayinsʹkoyi derzhavnosti. [Hungarian-language education in Transcarpathia in the first decade of the formation of Ukrainian statehood]. Ungvár. 

16. Orosz Ildikó. (2009). Navchannya, navchannya. [Education, training]. Budapest. 

17. Soós Kálmán. (2006). Subsydiyi na vyshchu osvitu ta yikh vykorystannya na Zakarpatti. [Higher education subsidies and their utilization in Transcarpathia]. Ungvár. 

18. Soós Kálmán. (2005). Naukove knyhovydannya Zakarpattya vid zminy vlady do nashykh dniv (1985–2005). [Scientific book publishing in Transcarpathia from the change of regime to the present day (1985–2005)]. 

19. Imre Szakál. (2021). Period pershoyi Chekhoslovatsʹkoyi Respubliky (1918–1938). [The period of the first Czechoslovak Republic (1918– 1938)]. Beregszász–Ungvár. 

20. Ibolya Szamborovszkyné Nagy. (2013). Osvitnya polityka ta vykladannya istoriyi v Radyansʹkomu Soyuzi ta Ukrayini (1945–2010). [Educational policy and history teaching in the Soviet Union and Ukraine (1945–2010)]. Ungvár. 

21. Vebsayt Uzhnʹo-Sakhalynsʹkoho natsionalʹnoho universytetu. (2024). [Ugvár National University website]. Ugvár. 

22. Zadorozsnyj, Volodymyr. (2010). Instytutsiyi kulʹturnoho ta mystetsʹkoho zhyttya. Osvita ta upravlinnya shkoloyu. [Institutions of cultural and artistic life. Education and school management]. Budapest.