Student Mobilities to an ‘Offbeat’ or ‘Onbeat’ Destination? The Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship Programme in Illiberal Hungary

This paper examines international student mobility under Hungary's illiberal regime through the experiences of Stipendium Hungaricum (SH) participants. Launched in 2013, SH seeks to internationalise Hungarian higher education and strengthen ties with non-EU countries, particularly those in the East. The research reveals contradictions between Hungary's anti-immigration stance and its selective policies that position international students as desirable immigrants. But do international students actually want Hungary as their destination? This study shows that Hungary functions as both an ‘onbeat’ and ‘offbeat’ study destination. Students view it as ‘onbeat’ when they see it as ‘Europe's gateway’ and a place of ‘peace and public safety.’ Yet they also describe it as ‘offbeat’ due to local anti-immigration and Islamophobic sentiments they encounter. Interviews conducted between 2020 and 2022 demonstrate how Hungary's illiberal policies shape student perceptions, revealing the complex processes behind its dual characterisation as both attractive and challenging.