Erasmus program in Hungary saved? Unexpected help from the European Parliament

In Hungary, there are foundation-run and state-run universities. The former ones will not be able to partake in the Erasmus program from this year, provided there is no agreement between the European Commission and the Hungarian government. Among others, the decision concerns Budapest Corvinus University, the University of Debrecen, the University of Szeged, and the Semmelweis University. These institutions are very popular among foreign students.

We collected here the 21 foundation-run universities in Hungary that can be excluded from the Erasmus program. Some of them are extremely popular both among Hungarian and foreign students. For example, at Semmelweis University or the universities of Debrecen and Szeged, thousands of foreign students study to become doctors and engineers. The exclusion of those 21 universities from the European Union’s greatest student exchange program would have a devastating effect on Hungarian higher education.

The Hungarian government and the European Commission have been negotiating about the Erasmus program for more than a year. The Hungarian government decided to recall government and parliament members from the boards of the foundation-run universities. But, for example, mayors remained members, and the talks did not progress since the summer of 2023.

The European Parliament will rescue Erasmus in Hungary?

Now, help may come from the European Parliament, which has been hostile towards Hungary on many issues. For example, the MEPs’ majority regularly would like to start new rule-of-law measures against Hungary.

The European People’s Party (Fidesz’s former European party) would like to amend a submitted document to enable Hungarian students to take part in the Erasmus and Horizon (the latter is a teacher support program) programs, portfolio.hu wrote.

The EP’s Culture and Education Committee (CULT) gave the green light with the votes of the EPP, ID, ECR and non-aligned Fidesz members. The text asks the European Commission to negotiate with Hungary to help Hungarian students and teachers access the education funds in the Erasmus program.

S&D criticised the manoeuvre and said the EPP began to move to the right before the European parliamentary elections this June. He added that Manfred Weber, the EPP’s leader, protects Orbán, contradicting the interests of his parliamentary group. Orbán was one of the European leaders who successfully prevented Weber from becoming the European Commission’s leader in 2019.

Opposition mayor also helping?

Meanwhile, Tibor Navracsics, the Minister of Regional Development of Hungary, was in Miskolc. The University of Miskolc is also a foundation-run university, but the city’s opposition mayor, Pál Veres, is on the board.

Therefore, Navracsics asked Veres to use his Brussels contacts to prove that foundation-run universities do not involve political discrimination. Mr Veres promised to raise his voice in Brussels on the issue.

Hu-rizont: help or waste of money?

The aforementioned 21 universities will lose membership in the European Union’s Horizon scheme. That is a support program for teachers, for which even the United Kingdom pays extra contribution to remain part. The Hungarian government decided to create a Hungarian scheme to replace that one. Its name is the Hu-rizont programme, and we wrote about it in detail HERE.

The chairman of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), Tamás Freund, said that the newly-created scheme is only for mitigating the damage done by Hungary’s exclusion from the Horizon programme. Former MTA head József Pálinkás, who ran for the opposition PM candidacy in 2022, slammed Hu-rizont. He said it is a “senseless waste of money”. Mr Pálinkás added that a German professor would not include a Hungarian colleague in a scientific project because of the uncertainties concerning the Hungarian universities. A Polish or Romanian colleague will join the project instead, Népszava wrote.