LMP submits budget amendment proposal to ‘restore’ university funding

The opposition LMP party has submitted amendment proposals to the 2022 budget bill, saying they aim to return “funds stripped from universities” to the institutions.

Under the government’s plan to use the European Union’s Resilience and Recovery Facility (RRF), set up to offset the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, universities are slated to receive 119 billion forints (EUR 334.8m), rather than the 1,500 billion promised previously, party group leader László Lóránt Keresztes told a press conference on Monday.

He insisted

the government was not going to compensate higher education institutions for the loss of funds, and that universities would face “brutal austerity measures” next year.

Next year’s budget does not cover the two-step wage hike containing two 15 percent raises promised to universities, Keresztes said.

Meanwhile, Keresztes insisted the government was spending double the amount allocated to the entire Hungarian higher education on China’s Fudan University, which is planning to set up a campus in Budapest.