Since 2005 the Institute for Economic and Enterprise Research (IEER) has undertaken the "young graduates in the private sector" research program which prepares an annual survey of Hungarian enterprises on the current and future employment characteristics of young graduates, employment trends, and the difficulties they face, including their salaries and their competencies, as well as the popularity and prestige of higher education institutions. In 2011 we approached 1,313 businesses. Of the total number of companies surveyed 30 percent have 50 or fewer employees, 19 percent employ between 50 to 100 people, and 24 percent have between 100-250 employees.

The latest results show that more companies still prefer to recruit graduates as opposed to those thinking about downsizing; also, the number of graduates for hire is more than those affected by proposed redundancies, therefore we can say that Hungary doesn’t have an oversupply of graduates. Companies with 20 or more employees make use of more than 95 percent of graduates, and also employ 42 percent of fresh graduates. The 2011 results suggest that in 2012 a significant increase is expected in the demand for the qualifications of an engineer, such as electrical, mechanical, construction or manufacturing technology engineers. Those least in demand are those who work in tourism, finance, and logistics while graduates in jobs that don’t require specific knowledge and general assistant jobs can expect a short-term decline in demand. According to the GVI prestige rankings, in terms of those offering economic courses the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Management Science at Corvinus University are in first place, whereas for technical courses the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the Budapest Technical and Economics University hold the top two places.