This paper explores how sociology undergraduate and postgraduate students understand and discuss their possible (sociological) futures in three national contexts of Norway, England, and Hungary. Using an international comparative design based on a total of 38 semi-structured interviews from the three case-study countries, it explores first,…

Hungary's effort since the 1970s to establish short-term objectives for higher education to meet immediate needs and to undertake a complex, comprehensive development plan to the year 2000 is similar to many countries' attempts to meet wide-ranging educational and economic needs in a changing social and economic climate. (MSE)

Evidence from four Eastern and three Western European countries suggests that there has been some convergence in the application of manpower and social demand criteria to higher education planning. The theoretical case for and against manpower planning is discussed, and the approaches of specific countries are described. (Author/MLW)

The field of educational planning and research in at least one socialist country, Hungary, does not conform to the popular stereotype of rigidity and conformity, nor is Hungarian education unaffected by changes elsewhere in the economy. (BRR)