Our analysis traces the complex and fragmented housing trajectories of Ukrainian refugees in Hungary. Our starting point is that the refugees fleeing the Russian-Ukrainian war form a group with somewhat different composition in Hungary than in other EU member states, which could justify the development of a different refugee care strategy in the countries concerned. We draw the domestic aspect of the phenomenon based on our mixed-methodology research with Ukrainian refugees (interviews - N=11, quantitative online survey - N=460). The fieldwork not only provides a snapshot of housing in December 2023 but also looks back to the refugees’ first housing after arrival and traces their subsequent moves. The paper tries to look behind the housing trajectories, the housing rearrangements over a period of almost two years, and to provide clues regarding other factors determining the housing impact of Ukrainian refugees. Among these factors, we focus on the impact of the offer of solidarity housing by citizens that is not part of the national refugee assistance strategy. Our related results detail the added value of private solidarity housing but also highlight that it can be risky and unsustainable without adequate support.

In 2022–23, Hungary witnessed the largest wave of protests since the fall of communism in 1990. Teachers, students and parents rallied to demand better school conditions and reforms within the educational system. In this study, I analyse the outcomes of these protests using data from the Hungarian Protest Event Database (HuPED) and 47 online news portals. I empirically examine the changes in the number of education-related protests and assess how demonstrations and strikes have influenced media discourse on the issue of education and the protesters’ demands. The results show that the protesters were clearly successful in mobilising the masses and shaping public discourse, but they were unable to achieve significant policy changes. In the second part of the paper, I explain the failure of the protests by the authorities’ protest and dissent management techniques applied against the movement.

The study examines the concept of the political elite of János Asbóth, the first major theorist of the Hungarian conservative thought. In line with the tradition of European conservatism, Asbóth assumed that the ‚historical’ ruling class, the landowning nobility, had to maintain its former dominant position after the Compromise of 1867, even in the context of rapidly strengthening capitalism. In his view, only this class had historical roots. The paper also points out that while in the 1870s and 1880s Asbóth saw the ‚gentry’ as the key players, by the turn of the century he turned his attention toward the landed aristocracy as the major conservative force. His historicist-defensive conservatism sharply rejected a focus on free competition, but also radical agrarian socialist aspirations. This work aims to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the development of Hungarian conservative thought.

The aim of this study is to provide a systematic review of the various criticisms concerning global university rankings. To understand these criticisms, it seems essential to outline the methodology of different global rankings. Subsequently, the paper proceeds by discussing the challenges related to measuring the teaching activity, research performance and institutional reputation of HEIs, including the problems of data collection and presentation of results. The final part of the paper outlines two possible directions for the future of university rankings. It discusses the possibility of ‘fixing’ the rankings and it also examines the more radical, but increasingly widespread solution, i.e. the possibility of abandoning the ranking of HEIs altogether.