What happens at the Stipendium Hungaricum PhD complex exam?

Direct answer: The complex exam closes the first four semesters and is the condition for starting the research and dissertation phase. Decree 387/2012 requires a public sitting before a committee of at least three, with a theoretical part and a report on research progress, graded pass or fail.

The exam is a qualifying examination for a Doctor of Philosophy in Hungary. Section 53(1) of Act CCIV of 2011 makes it compulsory at the end of the training and research phase (Hungarian Parliament, 2011). The form is set by section 12/A of Government Decree 387/2012. At least one third of the committee must be outside the institution running the doctoral school, every member holds a scientific degree, and the candidate's own supervisor may not sit on it (Government of Hungary, 2012). The Stipendium Hungaricum call repeats the point: doctoral students "can only continue with the second phase of their studies upon the successful completion of the complex exam" (Tempus Public Foundation, 2025, p. 5).

Credits, pass marks and committee size differ by school. The Hantos Elemér Doctoral School at the University of Miskolc admits candidates to the exam with at least 90 credits, asks for a draft dissertation of 40 to 80 pages, and states that "The complex exam is passed if the candidate achieves at least 60% in both parts" (University of Miskolc, 2023). The Faculty of Materials Science at the same university seats a committee of six (University of Miskolc, n.d.). Rules at your own school are therefore worth reading before the end of the second year.

Source: Government of Hungary (2012) and University of Miskolc (2023), read 2026-10-31. Credits and pass marks are school rules, not national ones.

Direct answer: One retake is allowed within the same exam period. If that attempt also fails, Act CCIV of 2011 ends student status on the day of failure, and the Stipendium Hungaricum Operational Regulations end the scholarship automatically. A school may offer a later self-funded route, but the scholarship does not continue.

The chain has three links. Section 12/A(4) of Decree 387/2012 lets a doctoral student repeat a failed complex exam once within the same exam period (Government of Hungary, 2012). Section 59(1)(j) of the Act ends student status when a doctoral student does not pass the exam, on the day of the failure (Hungarian Parliament, 2011). Section III.5 of the Operational Regulations, effective 31 August 2026, then lists the end of student status among the cases in which the scholarship terminates automatically (Tempus Public Foundation, 2026).

The Faculty of Materials Science at the University of Miskolc describes one exit that leaves the scholarship behind. After an unsuccessful dissertation part, a student can ask for a later exam with individual preparation, and a pass opens a second stage of self-funded training (University of Miskolc, n.d.). No national rule promises that route, so ask your doctoral school whether it exists. Challenges go to the exam decision itself under the university's own rules, not to the scholarship office.

Michalkó et al. (2021) explain why the gate is firm in the Stipendium Hungaricum PhD complex exam as in any other Hungarian doctoral programme. In a survey of 291 teachers and students at Corvinus University, they describe the 2016 reform as resting on three pillars, one of which was strengthening the filtering and excluding character of the complex exam.

Direct answer: About 18% of the PhD students Szigeti (2019) followed did not meet training and graduation requirements, and Pusztai et al. (2022) put degrees at 70% of the annual scholarship quota over ten years. Neither figure covers Stipendium Hungaricum holders alone, and neither isolates failure at the complex exam.

Szigeti (2019) used the national Higher Educational Informational System for PhD students enrolled in the autumn semesters of 2010 and 2014. Of the 2010 intake, 70.5% had graduated by the data freeze, against 50.3% of the 2014 intake, and 35% of the 2014 group were still enrolled. The author concluded that "approximately 18% of the enrolled PhD students did not meet the training and graduation requirements" (Szigeti, 2019). Between 43% (2010) and 60% (2014) of the students who dropped out left in the first or second semester, and fee-paying students had 2.483 times the dropout odds of state-funded peers. Those cohorts predate the exam in its current form.

Pusztai et al. (2022) combined national statistics with a graduate career-tracking sample of 509 and the Persist survey of 1,020. Measured against the annual scholarship quota, degrees reached 70% over the preceding ten years, and 2016, the year of the structural reform, was the weakest.

Source: the three papers cited above, open full text read 2026-10-31.

Direct answer: The stipend is HUF 140,000 a month for the first two years and HUF 180,000 a month for the second two, which the Operational Regulations tie to the period after the complex exam. Tuition is waived, and housing is a dormitory place or HUF 40,000 a month.

Section III of the Operational Regulations lists a monthly stipend of HUF 140,000 for the first two years and HUF 180,000 in the second two years following the complex examination, a one-off grant of HUF 400,000 for PhD scholarship holders starting from 2016/17, dormitory accommodation or HUF 40,000 a month, and a health contribution of HUF 65,000 per academic year (Tempus Public Foundation, 2026, p. 10). The step from 140,000 to 180,000 is a rise of about 29%, and the second rate is paid only to students the committee has let through.

For a student arriving from Vietnam, the Stipendium Hungaricum PhD complex exam date is also a budget date. Passing it lifts the monthly income by HUF 40,000, while failing it removes the income altogether. A forint amount is set in the foundation's rules rather than by the host university, so exchange-rate movements change what it buys at home but not what the foundation pays.

The Tempus Public Foundation (2025) call confirms that both rates run for 12 months a year until completion of studies, so a student in an English-taught programme should budget the second rate only after the result is announced.

Direct answer: No. The Operational Regulations state that scholarships may not be renewed for doctoral training, so funding covers 8 semesters. A holder who passes the final examination without a degree has the scholarship suspended from the next semester and terminated after one year. A separate dissertation scholarship exists through its own call.

The exact wording is that "Scholarships may not be renewed for doctoral, foundation, preparatory, postgraduate specialist training courses and partial courses" (Tempus Public Foundation, 2026, p. 14). The legal calendar runs longer than the funded one. Section 53(4) of the Act gives a doctoral student three academic years after the exam to submit the dissertation, extendable by at most one more year in cases deserving special consideration (Hungarian Parliament, 2011). Counted from an exam at the end of the fourth semester, the ordinary deadline falls one year after the eighth and last funded semester.

The regulations close that year from the funding side. A holder who completes the doctoral final examination but has no degree is suspended from the following semester and terminated after one year, and a successful application in a specific procedure can bring a dissertation scholarship for a maximum of 8 months after graduation (Tempus Public Foundation, 2026, p. 10).

The practical reading is that a PhD candidate in Hungary should treat the fourth year as the real submission year. A guide on how a PhD candidate differs from a PhD student shows how the same milestone is named in other systems.

Direct answer: The 2026/2027 call required a research plan, a signed recommendation letter from a holder of a scientific degree, and a supervisor's statement where the doctoral school demands one. Applications closed on 15 January 2026 at 2 p.m. Central European Time. One deadline runs each year, and the 2027/2028 call was not yet published on 31 October 2026.

The call states that every doctoral applicant must have a supervisor at the chosen host institution and asks applicants to contact the doctoral school beforehand to agree a topic (Tempus Public Foundation, 2025, p. 14). Where a statement of supervisor is required but not ready by 15 January, a declaration can be uploaded and the statement itself by 15 March 2026. The research plan must indicate the resources used and is checked by the universities for plagiarism (Tempus Public Foundation, 2025, p. 13).

The 2027/2028 call had not been published when this guide was checked, so the dates above show the usual pattern rather than a confirmed schedule. The programme's application page answers the follow-up question directly. There is only one application deadline each year, and an applicant who misses it can apply one year later (Tempus Public Foundation, n.d.). A Vietnamese applicant also submits to the national sending partner, whose own requirements and dates can differ.

Because the complex exam is a progress report on the research, the plan written in January is also the starting point of the report read two years later. For wider context before choosing a country, see how hard a PhD abroad is, from admission to completion.

Direct answer: Yes, within limits. Doctoral scholarship holders may research abroad for at most one semester in each of the two phases and keep the stipend and housing allowance. Stays of up to 30 days are also allowed with the institution's authorisation. Otherwise holders must stay habitually in Hungary.

The research-mobility rule is written phase by phase in the Operational Regulations: one semester at most in each phase, with housing and living allowances kept during the absence (Tempus Public Foundation, 2026, p. 13). A student whose thesis needs fieldwork in Vietnam should plan the first stay before the exam is sat, and the second after it.

Shorter trips follow separate rules. Conferences, internships and study-related stays of up to 30 days are allowed with the institution's authorisation, and the stipend continues. The same section limits continuous private stays outside Hungary to 10 working days per training period (Tempus Public Foundation, 2026). Taking another scholarship that pays for study abroad for more than 30 days can also affect the agreement, so check before accepting a second grant.

Is the Stipendium Hungaricum PhD complex exam graded?
No. The result is recorded as pass or fail, and it is announced on the day of the last part of the exam (Government of Hungary, 2012).

Can I retake the complex exam?
Yes, once, within the same exam period. A second failure ends student status and the scholarship (Hungarian Parliament, 2011).

Can the stipend continue after eight semesters?
No. Scholarships may not be renewed for doctoral training (Tempus Public Foundation, 2026, p. 14).

Does the exam look the same at every university?
No. Miskolc's Hantos Elemér school asks for 90 credits and 60% in both parts, and another Miskolc faculty seats a committee of six (University of Miskolc, 2023, n.d.).

How often does the call open?
Once a year. A missed deadline means applying one year later (Tempus Public Foundation, n.d.).

If Hungary is on your list and the next task is a research plan that will hold up at admission and again at the complex exam, a MAAS expert can work with you through PhD application strategy. The expert drafts the research plan from your own account of the research, you review, edit and approve it, and the expert challenges the design, the timeline and the fit with the doctoral school. This is advisory work with no grade target and no result promised. If the expert is not a good match, you can ask for a different expert.

• Is a PhD candidate different from a PhD student?: how the mid-course gate is named in the United States, Australia and Hungary.
• How hard is a PhD abroad? Getting in versus finishing it: why completion, not admission, is where most doctoral risk sits.

• Government of Hungary. (2012). 387/2012. (XII. 19.) Korm. rendelet a doktori iskolákról, a doktori eljárások rendjéről és a habilitációról [Government Decree 387/2012 on doctoral schools, doctoral procedures and habilitation]. https://net.jogtar.hu/jogszabaly?docid=a1200387.kor
• Hungarian Parliament. (2011). 2011. évi CCIV. törvény a nemzeti felsőoktatásról [Act CCIV of 2011 on national higher education]. https://net.jogtar.hu/jogszabaly?docid=a1100204.tv
• Michalkó, G., Havran, D., Galgóczi, E., & Petrovics, N. (2021). Doktori képzés 2.0: A hazai tudományos utánpótlás-nevelés verzióváltásának mezsgyéjén [Doctoral training 2.0: New directions in the education of future generations of scientists in Hungary]. Magyar Tudomány, 182(4), 449-461. https://doi.org/10.1556/2065.182.2021.4.2
• Pusztai, G., Fináncz, J., & Tóth, D. A. (2022). A doktori képzés nemzetközi és hazai átalakulása [The international and domestic transformation of doctoral education]. Educatio, 31(1), 85-103. https://doi.org/10.1556/2063.31.2022.1.7
• Szigeti, F. (2019). The patterns of the dropout of doctoral students. Hungarian Educational Research Journal, 9(2), 288-302. https://doi.org/10.1556/063.9.2019.1.25
• Tempus Public Foundation. (2025). Call for applications for doctoral programmes 2026/2027. Stipendium Hungaricum. https://stipendiumhungaricum.hu/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/PhD_Call_for_Applications_2026_27.pdf
• Tempus Public Foundation. (2026). Stipendium Hungaricum Programme operational regulations (effective 31 August 2026). https://stipendiumhungaricum.hu/documents/stipendium_hungaricum/OR/SH_OR.pdf
• Tempus Public Foundation. (n.d.). Apply. Stipendium Hungaricum. https://stipendiumhungaricum.hu/apply/
• University of Miskolc. (n.d.). Complex exam. Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering. https://avk.uni-miskolc.hu/en/phd-studies/complex-exam/
• University of Miskolc. (2023). Complex exam information leaflet 2023. Hantos Elemér Doctoral School of Business, Management and Regional Sciences. https://gtk.uni-miskolc.hu/files/18221/komplex%20vizsga%20t%C3%A1j%C3%A9koztat%C3%B3%202023%20ENG.pdf

This article is part of the MAAS Journal series for students. MAAS is an academic support partner: experts guide students through each stage of their own work, and we do not complete assessed work on a student's behalf.