McDaniel College poised to be first to fulfil new higher-ed law conditions

It is expected that McDaniel College, based in the US state of Maryland, will be the first non-European-Union higher-education institution to have fulfilled the conditions set down in Hungary’s new higher-education law, a government official said on Wednesday.

This shows the conditions laid down in the law are implementable, László Palkovics, state secretary for education, told lawmakers during a debate on the inter-state agreement between Hungary and Maryland in connection with the higher-education law, which states that

an accord between the Hungarian government and a state outside of the EU and EEA is needed for an college or university to legally operate in the country.

Palkovics noted in the debate that the law had been amended in light of an examination by Hungary’s education authority that showed several institutions headquartered abroad were breaching various regulations.

As we wrote on July, Hungary and the US state of Maryland have signed an interstate agreement to ensure the continued operations of McDaniel College in Budapest under Hungary’s amended higher education law.

On August the Venice Commission said in a preliminary opinion on the law published: Hungary’s higher education act is overall in line with existing European norms, but its amended version tightening rules on foreign universities already present in the country contain some “highly problematic” requirements.

Source: MTI