The Challenges of Cost Accounting of Hungarian Higher Education–especially Competitiveness Aspect

Abstract

A knowledge-based society is a major contribution to increasing competitiveness. Higher education institutions play a crucial role in the life of a national economy. Higher education in Hungary has undergone several transformations over the past two decades. In order to address the challenges of competition in the higher education sector, it is necessary to provide adequate financial information and to know the costs of activities and training. To improve their sustainability, universities need to develop the right tools to determine the total cost of their training. In our research, we focused on the factors that play a role in the costing of economics courses in Hungary. The research has statistically confirmed that the more prestigious and well-known higher education institutions set their tuition fees at the upper end of the differentiated normative range for a given field of study. Institutions adjust the amounts of the fees they charge to market conditions, to the cost price and to the normative envelope.