Art education belongs to the Ministry of Interior. There is a state secretariat for Public Education and another one for Tertiary Education.
In public education, the arts have traditionally had important position in Hungary. Literature – called simply as “Hungarian” – is taught in a relatively high number of weekly hours, thanks to the role that mother-tongue literature played in the historical process of constructing national identity. The strong personal influence of Zoltán Kodály, composer and reformer of music education, resulted in the 1950s in frequent singing classes in the lower grades, which still prevails. The predominance (75 percent) of folk songs in elementary music education is also a Hungarian speciality.
Teaching art and music in Hungary is available at elementary, secondary, and tertiary level schools. At the secondary level there are 47 schools. Higher level professional art education and training have a long-standing tradition: the University of Fine Arts was established in 1871, and the Franz Liszt University of Music, one of the most prestigious music universities around the world, was founded in 1875 (with the personal involvement of Liszt).
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