A REGIONÁLIS FÖLDRAJZ HELYZETE A MAGYAR FELSŐOKTATÁSBAN

In the paper a short overview is given about the recent changes that have taken place in the state of regional geography in the university training programs and in the curricula of primary and secondary schools of Hungary. In the BSc and MSc training programs the number of regional courses witnessed a dramatic decrease over the last couple of decades. Particularly little attention is being paid to the cultural realms and emerging economic regions outside Europe. This is a serious drawback since the holistic perspective provided by regional geography would be instrumental in bridging the gap between the physical and human subdisciplines. Due to the survival of the Soviet tradition, however, the university courses dealing with regional issues of various continents or regions are still strictly divided into physical and human geographical parts. Owing to this rigid structure and the short time assigned to regional courses, the renewal of outdated teaching methodology of the subject encounters serious difficulties. The authors are arguing for adopting an integrated, holistic approach, for project oriented teaching activities and for preferring group works in seminars instead of oral presentations. This development should be supported by up-to-date, online available texts and geographical research dealing also with regions outside Hungary.. The results of a questionnaire survey among primary and secondary school teachers are discussed in the second part of the paper. There is a general agreement that a profound revision of the content and the improvement of teaching methodology are required at all levels of geographical education and training. This implies a thoroughly restructured and revitalized regional geography.