The Central European University (CEU) could once again offer degree programmes in Budapest, nearly eight years after relocating its US-accredited courses to Vienna. University representatives say CEU is preparing to become a dual-campus institution, with accredited programmes operating in both Austria and Hungary.
CEU plans dual-campus model
The announcement was made during a roundtable discussion celebrating CEU’s 35th anniversary on Thursday evening. According to Klubrádió’s report from the event, the university plans to transform into a two-campus institution, offering degree-awarding programmes in both Vienna and Budapest once the necessary approvals are granted by the Hungarian authorities.
If approved, it would mark the return of full academic programmes to Budapest for the first time since the university moved its US-accredited courses to Austria in 2019.
Research activities already expanding
The discussion also revealed that Hungary’s Education Office has authorised CEU to host researchers from non-EU countries, allowing them to spend extended periods in Hungary with the appropriate visas. The approval follows an application submitted by the university in 2024 seeking recognition of its Budapest unit as an official research centre. According to CEU representatives, the request was approved on 28 April 2026, shortly after Hungary’s parliamentary elections.
In recent years, the university has continued to maintain a presence in Budapest despite relocating most of its teaching activities to Vienna. The university has operated several international academic initiatives, including programmes for scholars from Ukraine, the Western Balkans, Belarus and Georgia, often referred to as “Invisible Universities”. A new global programme is also scheduled to launch this autumn. While these initiatives will continue, traditional public degree programmes are now expected to return alongside them.
How CEU left Hungary
Founded in Budapest in 1991 by philanthropist George Soros, CEU became one of Central Europe’s leading international universities, offering master’s and doctoral programmes accredited in both Hungary and the United States. Its future in Hungary came under threat in 2017 after the Fidesz government amended the Higher Education Act in legislation widely known as “Lex CEU”.
The law required universities based outside the European Union to operate educational activities in their country of origin and to have an intergovernmental agreement between Hungary and that country.
Although CEU established academic activities in New York State to meet one of the requirements, the Hungarian government never signed the agreement needed for the university to continue operating its US-accredited programmes in Budapest. As a result, CEU announced in late 2018 that it would relocate those programmes to Vienna.
European court ruled against Hungary
In 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Hungary had breached EU law by imposing restrictions that violated academic freedom, the freedom to provide services and the country’s international obligations under World Trade Organisation rules.
Despite that judgment, the university did not return its degree programmes to Budapest, 444.hu writes.
As recently as April this year, CEU stated that although it acknowledged Hungary’s recent political changes, it had no plans to move its main campus back from Vienna.
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“philanthropist George Soros”
Says it all.
This thing is a massive fifth column and Hungary must not allow it to regain a foothold here.
Great news for science in Hungary. We should entice more scientific universities to set up branches in Hungary for studies and research. Time for isolation from the scientific community is over for Hungary after Fidesz has been overthrown. I hope we never have such government again that is so against international scientific studies and research.