The Hungarian Refugee Student Movement of 1956-57 and Canada
1998; Volume: 30; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1913-8253
Autores Tópico(s)Hungarian Social, Economic and Educational Studies
ResumoABSTRACT/RESUME In 1956 and early 1957 about twenty percent of the post-secondary population of Hungary left for the West. European and overseas nations agreed on the importance of this migration movement but differed on the role the state should play in aiding Hungarian refugee students in the completion of their studies. Overseas countries, including Canada, were willing to provide the same support as they gave to ordinary immigrants and their own student population, letting charitable institutions and generous individuals do the rest on an individual basis. The Canadian government showed little interest in the Hungarian refugee movement. J.W. Pickersgill, Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, with great energy managed to acquire about 1,000 students. As a result of Pickersgill's determined effort and despite local opposition, the forestry students and faculty continued their studies and work as an institution, a unique achievement at that time in the world. Most of the other students had to fend for themselv es because neither the federal government nor the provincial governments were willing to provide aid to the Hungarians that they would not provide to Canadian students. Determination and hard work did get most of the students into a Canadian institution of higher learning. In 1956/57 there were 78,100 students enrolled at Canadian universities. The number grew to 86,500 by 1957/58. One sixteenth of the increase in the student population was due to the presence of the Hungarians who eventually made their mark on Canada's intellectual elite. En 1956 et au debut de 1957 environ 20% des etudiants du postsecondaire hongrois ont quitte pour les pays de l'Ouest. Ces derniers, bien qu'ils aient admis l' importance du mouvement migratoire, ne furent pas d'accord sur l'aide de l'Etat a ces etudiants. Les Etats-Unis et le Canada voulurent aider mais ne firent pas grand-chose. J. Pickersgill du Canada reussit quandmeme a acquerif 1,000 etudiants. Tout ne fut pas rose pour ces derniers. Ce n'est que par leur determination et leur effort qu'ils reussirent a compter parmi les 86,500 etudiants universitaires canadians de 1957-58. A country's brain drain usually benefits other countries. Such was Hungary's case in 1956. According to a contemporary report based on police records over 3,200 university and college students, 11.2% of the total, left Hungary permanently as a direct consequence of the Hungarian revolution of 1956. (2) This report, however, is based on a count of 90% of the refugees and only on those refugees whose departure was reported to the police. If the proportion of students was the same in the unaccounted part of the refugee group, based on the quoted Hungarian Central Statistical Bureau (K.S.H.) report, about 3,550 more university students than the previous year may have reached the West. However, another publication of the K.S.H. paints a different picture. (3) According to the K.S.H.'s 1958 Yearbook, 7,900 fewer students had registered at Hungarian universities in September 1957. Their numbers declined from 40,800 to 32,900. The day-student population declined by 4,900, from 28,900 to 24,000. This decline was not e ntirely due to emigration. Some students were arrested and either imprisoned or expelled for revolutionary activities. The base was reduced when a large number of high school graduates emigrated and quite a few eighteen year olds, many of them eager to avoid the draft, emigrated. The majority of those who did not appear on the 1957/58 university student roll in Hungary, however, left the country and hoped to continue their studies abroad. It is possible that 1,500 day students who stayed behind discontinued their studies. In that case these two K.S.H. reports do not contradict each other. On the other hand, in January 1957, the Coordinating Committee for International Help to Hungarian Refugee Students received a report from the World University Service that 1,800 students had left Austria, each with a scholarship or the prospect of a scholarship, while 3,000 students were awaiting placement. …
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