CEU

Orbán ‘accepts’ Bavarian offer on CEU, says Bavarian minister

orbán

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has accepted the Bavarian provincial government’s offer concerning scientific cooperation with the Central European University, Florian Herrmann, the Bavarian minister of state for EU and media affairs told Munich daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.

According to the proposal, the Munich Technical University (TUM) would fund two faculties on democracy and governance at CEU.

CEU was barred from issuing American degrees in Hungary last year, as the government said it had failed to comply with a law amendment requiring educational activity in the university’s country of origin.

TUM would co-fund a third faculty which would operate as a foundation, Herrmann said.

Herrmann said

Orbán had “guaranteed” that the CEU would be allowed to continue its research and educational work in Budapest.

Herrmann said he believed the gesture on the part of the Hungarian prime minister was a clear sign that he wanted to dampen the controversy surrounding his Fidesz party within the European Peoples’ Party (EPP).


CEU WELCOMES WEBER’S HELP, WANTS LEGAL ASSURANCES FROM ORBÁN – Details HERE

CEU welcomes Weber’s help, wants legal assurances from Orbán

ORBÁN Viktor; WEBER, Manfred EPP

The Central European University (CEU) has welcomed efforts by Manfred Weber, the group leader of the European People’s Party, to help the university, but wants legal assurances from the prime minister so that it can continue operating in Budapest.

CEU said in a statement on Thursday that it thanked the Bavarian government for financial and technical support offered to facilitate long-term cooperation between the university and the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

Michael Ignatieff, President and Rector of CEU, discussed cooperation opportunities with Wolfgang A. Herrmann, the president of TUM.

While CEU welcomes these developments, and the possibility it opens of reversing CEU’s ouster from Budapest,

we must be absolutely clear that the parties to a possible collaboration can only proceed if the Hungarian Prime Minister provides an authoritative political commitment to his European partners that CEU will be allowed to remain in Budapest, as a free institution, offering American and European accredited degrees and that this political commitment is backed up by legislation that provides legally binding authorization for all of CEU’s operations in Budapest,” the university said in a statement.

Featured image: MTI

Weber: Talks with Orbán constructive, not all problems solved

ORBÁN Viktor; WEBER, Manfred EPP

Manfred Weber, the group leader of the European People’s Party (EPP), said in Budapest on Tuesday that his talks with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had been constructive and covered several issues, but some problems had remained unresolved.

EPP has clear fundamental values which have to be respected by all EPP member parties, including Hungary’s ruling Fidesz, Weber told journalists during his visit to the Great Synagogue in Dohany Street.

“As a dialogue between the two sides is still under way, I cannot tell you what concrete steps the EPP is going to take in the near future,” he said.

The EPP group consists of 80 member parties, of which 13 initiated excluding Fidesz or suspending its membership, he said.

Weber welcomed the Hungarian government’s decision to end the advertising campaign criticising the European Union’s migration policies.

It is essential for Fidesz to promise not to mount such campaigns in future, he said.

The group leader said it would be an appropriate solution for Orbán to apologise for “problems” he had caused to EPP member parties.

Weber identified three major problems concerning Hungary, namely the EU’s Article 7 proceedings launched against the country, the infringement procedures under way in the European courts and the issue of the Central European University (CEU).

Academic freedom is a fundamental value, he said, insisting that the CEU should stay in Budapest and continue to issue US accredited diplomas.

Weber said he had held talks with the Technical University of Munich, German auto maker BMW and US universities on creating new teaching capacities enabling the university to stay in Budapest.

After paying tribute in the synagogue’s garden, Weber said he was there “to make clear” that in making European policies small communities are always taken into consideration.

Weber warned that anti-Semitism is on the rise all over in Europe, adding that politicians have the job to speak out for religious freedoms.

He hailed the thriving of a strong Jewish community in Hungary.

Head of PM’s Office: Migration ‘central theme’ in EP election

refugees migration EU

Migration is the “most important topic” for the upcoming European parliamentary elections, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, told a press conference on Thursday.

Concerning migration with regard to Hungary, Gulyás said that Hungary’s border control prevents masses of migrants from attempting to enter the country illegally. “Since the border fence was built migrants have avoided Hungary, but if the government changed its policy, Hungary would be a migrant destination just the same,” he insisted.

On another subject, Gulyás said that Hungary’s ruling Fidesz wants to stay a member of the European People’s Party (EPP). He said “attacks” against Fidesz from within the EPP had come “exclusively from parties that had supported mandatory migrant quotas” but added that “those parties are also important EPP members” and that “the EPP embraces many different opinions”.

He voiced hope that the EPP will run “unified and strong” in the upcoming election with “Fidesz emerging as its strongest member”.

Concerning conditions set by EPP group leader Manfred Weber for Fidesz to remain a member of EPP, Gulyás said that consultations had been held with EPP leaders at which the Hungarian government said it would not “compromise on its position of rejecting migration”.

Referring to another condition, concerning the Central European University, Gulyás said that “what the EPP group leader is asking is an issue resolved and closed”. Fidesz continues to support Weber because “he would be best” for the next European Commission president.

Gulyás added that “despite disappointments on some issues, Fidesz still views the EPP as the best platform for endorsing a Christian Democrat policy.”

Gulyás said that Fidesz had had talks with CDU head Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Weber but not with Marine Le Pen’s RN party. He said that even if Fidesz were not an EPP member it “should have good relations” with Germany’s CDU/CSU parties but “it would not be possible” to cooperate with the AfD party.

EPP, Fidesz dispute centres on migration, which Fidesz rejects, says spokesman

european people's party orbán

Fidesz prioritises protecting European Christian values and stopping migration over party discipline, the ruling party’s spokesman said on Wednesday in response to EPP chief Manfred Weber’s outlining three conditions that Fidesz must fulfil in order to remain within the grouping.

Weber has called on the Hungarian government to halt its campaign against Brussels and to apologise to EPP member parties. He also insists the Central European University (CEU) should remain in Budapest.

Balázs Hidvéghi, Fidesz’s communications director, said that whereas Fidesz would “listen to everyone, including Manfred Weber …

protecting European Christian values and stopping migration is more important than party discipline…”

In respect of the CEU, the Fidesz spokesman said: “The Soros network is moving every stone in its own interests”. He insisted that the CEU continued to operate in Budapest according to Hungarian law. Education, he added, is a national competence and criticism was therefore unfounded. In Hungary, all universities must abide by the same laws, including “the Soros university,” he said.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/OrbánViktor

Soros political player for decades, tells Fidesz state secretary to BBC

george soros osf

Hungarian state secretary for international communications and relations Zoltán Kovács has told the BBC in an interview that financier George Soros became a political player two decades ago.

Kovács said in the HardTalk interview broadcast on Monday that this was clear from Soros’s own statements as well from the activities of the Open Society Foundation and Project Syndicate, which he said were the main conduits of the billionaire’s ideas about Europe.

Soros’s institutional network wields great power without ever having had an electoral mandate, he added.

NGOs linked to Soros have nothing to do with civil society, he said, adding that civil society is something that is built from the ground up. There are currently 65,000 such organisations in Hungary, he added.

Asked about an allegation by the head of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee NGO concerning harassment by the government, Kovács said the dispute was with a few dozen organisations and had nothing to do with civil groups run by ordinary people.

He said that ever since the migration crisis, the gap between the “western European left-liberal political elite” and voters in European Union member states had grown.

Meanwhile, Kovács denied that the Central European University (CEU) had left Budapest, saying that only one part of the CEU’s activities, which breached Hungarian laws, had left the country.

Michael Ignatieff, the CEU’s president and rector, told the BBC that CEU had been forced to split into two parts by the government. He said the government was unwilling to sign an agreement which, under a law passed in 2017, was necessary for the CEU to continue its activities in Budapest. In the absence of the agreement, the university cannot issue US accredited diplomas in Budapest, he noted.

Ignatieff insisted that the Hungarian government was “a regime that is hostile to any free institution”.

He also characterised the Hungarian government’s position on Soros as a “fantastical conspiracy theory”. Soros’s ability to influence developments in Hungary “is virtually zero”, he added.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/OpenSocietyFoundations

Hungarian universities among the best in the world – CEU ranks the 41st! – Check out here!

CEU

Programs of study at Central European University (CEU) rank among the best in the world according to the prestigious 2019 QS World University Rankings by Subject. With three subjects that rank in the top 50 universities worldwide, one in the top 100 and an additional three in the top 200.

Central European University (CEU)

As CEU press release said, “CEU’s global reputation for excellence is once again confirmed by our performance in the QS rankings,” said CEU President and Rector Michael Ignatieff.

CEU tops all other universities in Hungary in these seven subject fields – topuniversities.com

“As a postgraduate university community, we are committed to sustaining the rigor of our research and the strength of our teaching.” Looking at broad subject areas, in Arts and Humanities CEU’s academic reputation rose nearly 6%, to 78.2. In the Social Sciences, the increase was 4.8%, to 71.7.

In disciplines,

  • CEU ranks 41st in Politics and International Studies,
  • 44th in Philosophy and 44th in Social Policy and Administration.
  • History program ranks in the top 100,
  • Sociology in the top 150 worldwide
  • Economics and Econometrics in the top 200, together with its Law program

The QS World University Rankings by Subject evaluates universities that offer undergraduate and/or taught graduate programs, exceed minimum academic and employer reputation scores and publish a minimum number of papers based on discipline. 48 subjects taught at 1,222 institutions, including postgraduate institutions such as CEU, are ranked across the globe.

Total Students of CEU: 1,245
Academic Faculty Staff: 210
International Students: 976


DECISION HAS BEEN MADE: CEU TO LAUNCH ALL US-ACCREDITED DEGREE PROGRAMS IN VIENNA IN 2019


Semmelweis University

 

Semmelweis ranked 151-200. Semmelweis University is located in Budapest and is the oldest medical school in the country (established in 1769). The university reached a position of 201-250 in medical education. The Semmelweis University ranked 308th in the field of life sciences and medicine in the broader areas of specialization.

As QS World University Ranking said, the Bachelor’s programmes provide students with general knowledge, skills, abilities, professional competencies, and the professional experience necessary for finding employment. The Master’s programmes and – for those already holding a degree – the postgraduate specialist training programmes allow students to obtain professional specialisation, a deepened knowledge of the field, and a higher level of qualification. Scientific knowledge may be acquired following completion of the Master’s programme within the framework of Ph.D. training. The so-called long-cycle Master’s programmes comprise a unique group, in which the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes are essentially merged together: students enter the programme with their high school leaving certificates and leave with a Master’s degree. Higher-level vocational training also forms part of higher education: credits earned in this form of training can be transferred to a Bachelor’s programme. Completion of a vocational training programme does not result in a higher education degree.

Total Students: 9,643
Academic Faculty Staff: 1,044
International Students: 3,440

The University of Debrecen and University of Szeged

The University of Debrecen and the University of Szeged ranked at 451-500 in the field of life sciences and medicine in the broader areas of specialization.

University of Szeged – Global Ranking: #=470

 

The University of Szeged offers Bachelor’s programmes at the Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Economics & Business Administration, the Faculty of Music and the Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Studies. Although students enrolled in the so called undivided (integrated, long, one-tire Master’s) programmes of the Faculty of Dentistry, Medicine or Pharmacy obtain Master’s degree, there is no Bachelor’s degree among the prerequisites.

Szeged is the second hometown of International Students: Public transport, the biggest cycling community in Hungary, swimming pools, baths, theatres and cinemas are here to serve visitors and students while staying in town. Szeged is among the best European University Towns (CondéNast Traveler – 2014) and according to Trivago’s travel site Szeged is the 5th on the list considering the best price-value rates of travel destinations.

ESN Mentors, as member of a non-governmental, volunteer-based student organisation in Europe, are volunteers who help foreign students settling down in Szeged. In cooperation with the University, they help newly arrived students starting their student and social life at SZTE and Szeged. ESN and their events bring international students closer to the local community, and last but not least, they make friends with them.

Total Students:  17,653
Academic Faculty Staff: 1,979

University of Debrecen, Hungary – Global ranking: #601-650

 

As the official site said, the University of Debrecen is one of Hungary’s five elite research universities, offering the widest choice of majors in the country for over 27,000 students, over 5,000 of which are international students. UD’s 1500 lecturers of 14 faculties endeavour to live up to the elite university status and to provide high quality education for those choosing UD. Our goal is to train professionals possessing all necessary skills and knowledge to enter regional, national or international labour markets.

University of Debrecen is a dynamically expanding institution: the 14 faculties on 7 campuses occupy more than 150 thousand square meters. 840 venues are used directly for higher education purposes, including 100 lecture halls, 530 practice and seminar rooms, 60 computer rooms, 135 laboratories and language labs, 500 research labs and 15 gyms. Due to our infrastructural developments, they not only have a steadily increasing number of educational units and laboratories, but with new and restored residence halls and community spaces, they also provide modern living conditions for their students.

21,879
1,853

Photo: www.vegeldaniel.com

CEU Budapest rector Ignatieff wins Dan David Prize for ‘Defending Democracy’

Michael Ignatieff, the president and rector of Central European University, has been awarded the 2019 Dan David Prize for his outstanding contribution to the defense of democracy.

CEU press release said, awarded for innovative and interdisciplinary research, the annual Prize recognizes individuals and organizations whose humanistic, scientific and technological accomplishments represent remarkable achievements in selected fields. This year’s fields are Macro History, Defending Democracy and Combating Climate Change. Ignatieff shares the prize for Defending Democracy with fellow laureate, Reporters Without Borders, an organization based in France that promotes and defends press internationally.

“My first reaction was utter astonishment, followed by gratitude and then, since this is recognition for work done in defense of democracy, the feeling that I still have lots to do,” said Ignatieff.

The board of the Dan David Prize highlighted Ignatieff’s leadership as the President and Rector of Central European University in Budapest, standing in the front lines against the campaign to stifle academic freedom, free expression and pluralism in the country.

“The liberal democratic order faces a rising tide of new authoritarianism and populism; the very values that have sustained freedom and democracy are called into question,” said Ariel David, a member of the Dan David Prize’s board and son of the Prize founder.

“Professor Michael Ignatieff and Reporters Without Borders are being recognized for their leadership in the daily struggle to protect freedom of academia and freedom of the press. These basic liberties are pillars of democracy and it is no coincidence that the media and universities are often the primary targets of the populist and authoritarian regimes that have risen to power.”

Ignatieff and Reporters Without Borders, along with the three other laureates, will be honored at the 2019 Dan David Prize award ceremony at Tel Aviv University later this year.

“I am especially delighted to be honored in Israel, and by a great Israeli university,” said Ignatieff.

The Dan David Prize awards a total of US$3 million to prize winners annually (US$1 million per field, to be shared equally where there is more than one winner).


US AMBASSADOR: I AM TRULY SADDENED TO SEE CEU LEAVE

US Ambassador David B. Cornstein expressed satisfaction that Hungary and his country “have elevated the dialogue” in recent months, while ties have been friendly and worthy of two allies, read more HERE.

Freedom House: Hungary not ‘Free’ anymore

freedom house democracy orbán trump

Freedom House has published their research into the rate of democratic and political freedom all across the globe again – Hungary’s status from ‘Free’ has been changed to ‘Partly Free’.

Freedom House has published its global ranking for the thirteenth time, this time, dedicating a separate chapter to discuss the attacks on American democracy in the past years, given that the USA scored 86 this time, but ten years ago 94.

Freedom House has looked into altogether 195 countries, out of which 86 were listed as ‘Free’, 59 as ‘Partly Free’ and 50 as ‘Not Free’.

“In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has presided over one of the most dramatic declines ever charted by Freedom House within the European Union” – Freedom House

freedom in the world freedom house democracy orbán viktor

Last year, Hungary scored 72, however in the latest survey, only 70, which means that it has declined from ‘Free’ to ‘Not Free’, due to the manner in which Viktor Orbán and the Fidesz government attacks the press, universities, researchers, the academia, civil organisations, NGOs, asylum seekers, the courts and the private sector since 2010. In the 2018 elections, Orbán’s and Fidesz’s place was secured through years of careful and methodical work invested in undermining criticism in the media and civil circles.

Freedom House highlights that a series of demonstrations have begun at the end of 2018: the protesters demand that Orbán steps down.

freedom house democracy orbán

The organisation states that the way democratic institutions suffered and were destroyed by antidemocratic leadership in Hungary is similar to the situation in Venezuela and Turkey. Irresponsible antidemocratic rhetoric is just the beginning of the restriction on freedom.

When concluding the report, Freedom House accused Orbán and Mohammad bin Salman of representing a threat to human liberty, reminding readers that their abuses should not be overlooked and such leaders must be held responsible for their actions.

You can find the full report HERE.

photos: freedomhouse.org

US ambassador: I am truly saddened to see CEU leave

Orbán Cornstein

US Ambassador David B. Cornstein expressed satisfaction that Hungary and his country “have elevated the dialogue” in recent months, while ties have been friendly and worthy of two allies.

Speaking before parliament’s foreign affairs committee, the ambassador referred to the “deep bond” between the two countries, and said that “we’ve had our ups and downs, but as in any other healthy relationship, we’ve overcome those differences and emerged stronger and closer through honest and respectful dialogue”.

The ambassador said the question of NATO unity in respect of the situation in Ukraine was a priority for the US, which, he added, is committed to a democratic and free Ukraine.

“The United States has made it clear that our support for Ukraine is unbending. We are committed to the success of a stable, prosperous, democratic, and free Ukraine. We support Ukraine as it counters Russian aggression and adopts reforms to increase prosperity, security, and rule of law. It is vital that NATO support Ukraine in its Western aspirations,” he said.

He also emphasised the importance of energy security and defense cooperation.

Cornstein welcomed Hungary’s commitment to raise its defense spending by 2 percent of GDP by 2024 and he added that the US is ready to support Hungary’s ambitious defense modernisation plans.

“Our defense relationship is the envy of many nations, and now we are in the process of formalising this close relationship with the negotiation of a new Defense Cooperation Agreement. This agreement will bring us into the 21st century, and prepare us for new security challenges that we face together as Allies,” he said.

Regarding energy security, he said Hungary should find a way to diversify energy sources to reduce its dependence on Russia, and the US supports the planned the project to build an LPG terminal in Croatia and the construction of the Bulgarian-Romanian-Hungarian-Austrian (BRUA) gas corridor.

Another important goal, he said, was to strengthen trade and investment relations between the two countries. US companies consider the government to be very supportive, and the workforce is well trained and industrious, he added.

Meanwhile, referring to the Central European University‘s decision to move the bulk of its courses to Vienna, Cornstein said he was “truly saddened to see CEU leave” Budapest, saying its departure was “bad for Hungary”.

“Resolving this dispute was one of my top US priorities and was part of my daily discussions with Hungarian government counterparts at all levels,” he added.

Levente Magyar, parliamentary state secretary of foreign affairs, said bilateral ties were not burdened by any strategic disagreements and regular consultations would hopefully resolve any contentious issues.

He said ties had seen a substantive and qualitative change, with a return to dialogue based on mutual respect.

The US is still one of Hungary’s top trading partners, and the security relations have never been so intensive as they are today, he added.

In terms of NATO cooperation, no substantive unresolved issues are on the agenda, besides the issue of Ukraine, where, he noted, there was an “open attack” on national minorities there. “Dialogue has started … and there is a sense of an easing of tensions in bilateral relations,” he added.

In terms of energy security, Magyar said American and Hungarian interests coincided, and Hungary also believes it must make every effort to diversify its energy supplies.

Among strategic areas of bilateral cooperation Cornstein mentioned energy security and defence, and suggested that unity within NATO was crucial in terms of Ukraine.

Ambassador Cornstein said about Ukraine:

“We feel strongly, however, that as NATO allies the best way to promote reforms in Ukraine is by talking to Ukraine, not by blocking Ukrainian engagement with NATO. Ukraine – NATO engagement will help all Ukrainian citizens, including ethnic Hungarians. We need to keep the big picture in mind. Putin is not interested in national sovereignty. His vision is neoimperial. If Ukraine fails, Hungary will be on the front line of Russian aggression.” Read more news about Ukrainian issue HERE.

Read the original speech here.

Government spokesman: CEU move to Vienna ‘political bluff’

Hungary’s government spokesman called the Central European University’s Monday announcement to move courses to Vienna “a political bluff”.

The George Soros-founded university will keep several of its courses running in Budapest, István Hollik said in a video message posted on the government’s portal kormany.hu.

He said that “this makes it clear to everybody that the whole affair is nothing else, but the usual political bluff by Soros which the government does not wish to deal with.”

István Hiller, deputy speaker of parliament for the opposition Socialists, said that “ousting” CEU from Budapest is nothing else but “a political decision”.

Speaking to reporters, he argued that the university had fulfilled all the criteria set by the government and the amended education law. He called the affair “a violation of academic and scientific freedom”, adding that “it is unprecedented in Hungary’s post-transition history that an institution recognised by an allied state has been driven out of the country”.

The leftist Democratic Coalition said the Hungarian government has chased CEU away from Hungary, calling the day of the announcement “a dark day for Hungarian higher education, academic autonomy and scientific life.”

The decision carries the message that Hungary does not need knowledge, innovation and responsible thinking, DK’s deputy group leader Gergely Arató said. The system that closes university faculties is “nothing else but dictatorship”, he said.

Featured image: MTI

Decision has been made: CEU to launch all US-accredited degree programs in Vienna in 2019

CEU Central European University

Budapest’s Central European University (CEU) will launch all US-accredited degree programs in Vienna in September 2019, the university said on Monday.

CEU said in a statement that it was making the announcement today in order to guarantee that it can recruit students in time for the beginning of the next academic year.

“Over the course of 20 months, CEU has taken all steps to comply with Hungarian legislation, launching educational activities in the US that were certified by US authorities. Nevertheless, the Hungarian government has made it clear it has no intention of signing the agreement that it negotiated over a year ago with the State of New York, which would ensure CEU’s operations in Budapest for the long term,” the statement added.

The case of CEU has been on the agenda for a while. They have declared that unless the university can emerge from its current legal limbo in Hungary by December 1, the new student intake for its American accredited masters and doctoral programmes will study at the CEU’s new campus in Vienna.

Despite all negotiation efforts, the decision has been made: CEU is moving its programmes to Vienna.

“CEU has been forced out,” the university’s president and rector said.

“This is unprecedented. A US institution has been driven out of a country that is a NATO ally. A European institution has been ousted from a member state of the EU,” Michael Ignatieff added.

He said that the Hungarian government had done an injustice toward its own citizens, the hundreds of Hungarians who work and study at CEU, and thousands of Hungarian alumni and their families.

CEU further said the excellence of its academic programmes has been certified by US education authorities and the Hungarian Accreditation Committee.

It called the “arbitrary eviction of a reputable university” a “flagrant violation of academic freedom” and “a dark day for Europe and a dark day for Hungary.”

The university further regretted that the Hungarian government had “refused to listen to the representations they received from members of the US Congress, the Office of the Governor of the State of New York, the Venice Commission, members of the European Parliament, leaders of universities around the world, over two dozen Nobel Laureates, but above all, the thousands of Hungarians from all walks of life who demonstrated peacefully and called for ‘free universities in a free country'”.

It said that CEU is registered in Austria to issue US-accredited degrees and will welcome all incoming students to its Vienna location in September 2019, adding that enrolled students will complete their studies in Budapest.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Ignatieff said the university fulfilled all of its legal obligations according the State of New York, but the Hungarian government had refused to accept this stance. He said CEU had sought to fulfill its obligations under the amended higher education act, but for the sake of the students, it could not wait any longer.

The rector said he believed the government did not want to resolve CEU’s situation.

Ignatieff said Hungarians would have to ask themselves who wins under the current situation and whether what was happening with CEU would benefit Hungarian higher education and academia. He added that the rule of law and academic freedom were inseparable.

CEU deputy rector Zsolt Enyedi said CEU had lost hope of extending its operating permit.

Deputy rector Éva Fodor said the most important thing for CEU over the coming period would be ensuring that the quality of teaching and learning at the university does not decline. She said CEU also had to focus on preserving its unity, stressing that it would remain a single institution despite the fact that it would operate at multiple venues.

In a press statement released by the US State Department, a spokesperson said the US government was “disappointed” that the Hungarian government and CEU had not concluded an agreement that would allow the university to continue its US-accredited programmes in Hungary.

“Since the Hungarian government amended its law on higher education in April 2017, we have worked diligently with both parties to find a solution that would allow CEU to preserve these programs in Hungary,” Heather Nauert said in the statement.

“The United States values the role that CEU and other American educational institutions play in building connections between the Hungarian and American people and strengthening the transatlantic bond. The departure of these U.S.-accredited programs from Hungary will be a loss for the CEU community, for the United States, and for Hungary,” she added.

CEU is accredited in the US and Hungary with 1,200 master’s and doctoral students in the humanities, social sciences, business, law, cognitive and network science. The university employs 770 staff and faculty. It contributed 25 million euros (8 billion forints) to the Hungarian economy each year in taxes, pension and health contributions, and payments to suppliers, the university said.

Hungary’s amended higher education act requires foreign colleges and universities in Hungary to operate on the basis of an interstate agreement and to run a campus in the country in which they are based.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/CentralEuropeanUniversity

CEU Rector: Orbán cabinet appears to have decided on university’s fate in Hungary – UPDATE

ceu budapest hungary

The Central European University’s (CEU) rector and president, Michael Ignatieff, has said that it appeared from recent statements by Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, that the government had already decided on the university’s fate in Hungary.

In a letter to Szijjártó, the CEU’s rector wrote: “In remarks to the press earlier this week, you gave the clearest indication yet that on January 1, 2019 your government will force CEU out of Hungary.”

“You assert that CEU has not established educational activity in the State of New York. This will obviously be the basis on which the government justifies its decision,” Ignatieff said in the letter seen by MTI.

“If this is the government’s decision, it will be ignoring the terms of your own legislation,” he added.

The Hungarian higher education law “clearly states that the authorities competent to decide whether a foreign institution is conducting educational activities in its home state are the educational authorities of that state. The New York State Department of Education has repeatedly informed the government of Hungary that CEU is conducting educational activities in New York. You cannot be unaware of this correspondence. It has been a matter of public record for months,” the letter said.

The open letter from Central European University rector Ignatieff to Foreign minister Szijjártó:

Dear Mr Foreign Minister

In remarks to the press earlier this week, you gave the clearest indication yet that on January 1, 2019 your government will force CEU out of Hungary.

You assert that CEU has not established educational activity in the State of New York. This will obviously be the basis on which the government justifies its decision.

If this is the government’s decision, it will be ignoring the terms of your own legislation. The Hungarian higher education law, passed by your Parliament, clearly states that the authorities competent to decide whether a foreign institution is conducting educational activities in its home state are the educational authorities of that state. The New York State Department of Education has repeatedly informed the government of Hungary that CEU is conducting educational activities in New York. You cannot be unaware of this correspondence. It has been a matter of public record for months.

The question of whether CEU has complied with the law should be determined by the terms of the law itself. If you choose to ignore the terms of your own legislation, the responsibility for that lies with you.

You also must be aware that your Ministerial colleague, Mr. Palkovics as well as Mr. Kristof Altusz, from your own Ministry, visited Bard College in April 2018. In the presence of Trustees and Chairman of the CEU Board, they gave clear indications that CEU had established educational activity on the Bard College campus.

You will also be aware that M. Altusz engaged in productive negotiations with the chief legal counsel of the Governor of New York through the summer of 2017. These discussions resulted in the text of a draft agreement which CEU accepted as the basis of its future operations in Hungary. This document remains the basis for a potential settlement.

For eighteen months, CEU has sought a solution that would allow us to remain in Hungary but your remarks indicate that your government has already made up its mind.

As minister you and your government will bear responsibility for the harm that your decisions will do to Hungary’s higher education system and to the country’s international reputation.

Yours,

Michael Ignatieff
Rector and President

UPDATE

Szijjártó: CEU seeking ‘political mess’

Budapest’s “Soros university” is seeking “political upheaval rather than a solution”, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in reaction to a letter by Central European University (CEU) Rector Michael Ignatieff, on Friday.

Szijjártó insisted that he had not received the rector’s letter when it had been shared with the press, and said it also showed that the university was more interested in a “political mess” rather than in resolving the issue.

In his letter, Ignatieff said that the CEU had been seeking ways for the university to stay in Budapest for the past 18 months. The foreign minister’s recent remarks, however, indicate that the government has already made a decision on the fate of the university, he added.

Over 1,000 participants protest in support of CEU in Budapest

momentum ceu

A protest to express solidarity with the Central European University, organised by the Momentum Movement, was held with over 1,000 participants in central Budapest on Friday.

As we wrote before, the Central European University (CEU) has said that unless the university can emerge from its current legal limbo in Hungary by December 1, the new student intake for its American accredited masters and doctoral programmes will study at the CEU’s new campus in Vienna. Read more HERE.

Independent lawmaker Bernadett Szél told the event that the government “is afraid of knowledge” and has a problem with the CEU because the university teaches people to think independently instead of “regurgitating ready-made answers”.

Those in power have named the “Soros network” as an enemy, yet such a network does not even exist,

she said.

Momentum Movement leader Andras Fekete-Győr told the crowd that

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán uses “the language of brute force” and “will run over everyone who stay silent”.

Fekete-Győr asked leaders in higher education, health care and public education to join forces, and promised that Momentum would support them.

Interview – Orbán: Nation to benefit from ‘even stronger’ family policy

Orbán radio interview

The government’s enhanced support for families will “benefit the whole nation, including young people” in the long run, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told public Kossuth Radio on Friday.

“Young people often plan a family … and then face financial difficulties,” Orbán said, adding that he wanted to build a Hungary in which young people are not forced to change their plans due to money worries.

Compared with other European Union members, Hungary has the highest family support in relation to GDP, the prime minister said, noting government efforts to reverse negative population trends.

“Hungary’s population is steadily decreasing,”

Orbán said, adding that measures must be geared towards ensuring an adequate replacement rate.

Enhanced family support will promote childbirth and lower the average age, which will make Hungary a “merry and happy” country, Orbán said.

Concerning the government’s latest public consultation survey, Orbán said that the economy was strong enough to allow for more assistance to families. The government is looking to voters for “guidelines” for its next measures, Orbán said, and encouraged residents to “spend half an hour” and fill in the questionnaires.

On the subject of the European People’s Party’s congress in Helsinki, Orbán said “it had not been difficult” to decide whom to support of the two candidates. He called

Alexander Stubb an “extremely liberal, pro-migration politician” while he said Manfred Weber was a Christian Democrat.

In his interview, Orbán referred to the United Nations’ migration pact, calling for it to be ditched because “governments should side with the people and protect them from illegal migration, terrorism, crime, and economic difficulties”. He insisted that the plan would “go against the will of the vast majority of Europeans”.

“This is a bad pact”, Orbán said, arguing the plan was aimed at driving international support for “principles that are in conflict with the interests of Hungarian people” such as acknowledging migration as a human right. “We won’t accommodate migrants and cannot accept a document which presents it as a noble and globally shared purpose,” Orbán said.

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Referring to his recent trip to China, he said Hungary’s political stability within the region was especially prized. He said that

experts in China converged on the view that central Europe will be the engine of growth in Europe in the next 5 to 10 years.

Budapest, he added, is the centre of cooperation between 16 central and eastern European countries, the Balkans and China. Orbán said Hungarian quality manufacture in China is competitive and his visit had resulted in a deal to resume exports of Hungarian poultry halted due to bird flu. Further, hundreds of millions of dollars of Hungarian business opportunities have opened up, too, he added.

Asked about the Central European University (CEU), Orbán said “hysteria” had been generated around the “Soros university” for as long as the CEU had been present in the country. “However much hysteria is whipped up around any one university, I’m not inclined to allow anyone to operate outside of the law.” At the same time, the prime minister said the prospect of the CEU leaving Hungary was “a bluff” since Hungarian law provided for the possibility of the universities operations and “the legal requirements for their operation in Hungary are guaranteed.”

“I’d place a large bet that we’ll still see them in Budapest,” he added.

CEU-affair: Audio recording reveals CEU offers no post-grad courses at Bard College – UPDATE

The Central European University (CEU) offers no post-graduate courses at Bard College (BC) in the United States, daily Magyar Idők said on Thursday citing an audio recording that features the head of the college’s education department.

Hungary tightened rules governing the operations of foreign universities in the country last year, requiring foreign colleges and universities in Hungary to operate on the basis of an interstate agreement and to run a campus in the country in which they are based.

CEU, which is based in Budapest but accredited by the State of New York, complained that it was targeted by the amended legislation because it has no campus in the United States. In the autumn, CEU said it signed a memorandum of understanding with BC to provide educational activities in New York.

In the audio recording Director of Graduate Admissions at BC Janet Stetson told a student making an inquiry about CEU training courses at BC that CEU offered no master degree courses at BC or any other form of training in the US.

Under what Stetson qualified as very loose cooperation, BA students at Bard College spend half a year or a full one at the CEU as partial transfer students, and can only complete their studies and get their BA degree after returning to the US.

All BC courses linked to the CEU are offered only at the CEU and not in the US, the paper said citing the audio recording with Stetson. What CEU offers at BC are not post-graduate courses, it added.

Magyar Idők called this important because whereas post-graduate courses did offer a second degree, partial transfer students were not eligible for a recognised certificate.

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CEU deputy rector Zsolt Enyedi told the paper that the Advanced Certificate Program offered by the CEU represented a form of post-graduate training and only students holding a CEU or BC degree who are still enrolled in one of the two universities were eligible for the programme.

Magyar Hírlap commented that the two conditions were difficult to meet simultaneously because a student would only be eligible to apply for a CEU course in the US if he or she is already enrolled in a post-grad course.

Enyedi also told the paper that it was not Stetson but Vice President for Academic Affairs Jonathan Becker who was in charge of the programme.

He added that CEU launched another programme in New York from September, by converting an international affairs MA programme previously only available in Budapest to a Budapest-New York programme. This is not a joint programme with BC because the CEU provides all the necessary conditions for it, he said.

Magyar Idők said that based on the above information, CEU falsely claimed that it had launched educational activities in the US and it still did not meet the requirements of the Hungarian law.

The paper cited government spokesman Zoltán Kovács as saying that information revealed about the agreement between the CEU and Bard College show that

the CEU failed to fulfil the criteria that all other international higher education institutions operating in Hungary met, namely that they offer educational activities in their home country and have a campus there.

UPDATE

CEU responded by refuting what it said was a series of “inaccuracies” published by Magyar Idok.

The university said in a statement that the academic programme it had launched with Bard College fulfilled the Hungarian higher education legislation requirement to conduct educational activity in its home country.

“The US authority regulating educational activity, the New York State Education Department, has repeatedly confirmed its registration and approval of this program in the state in direct correspondence to the Hungarian authorities, and CEU has released this information publicly on more than one occasion,” CEU said.

It quoted CEU President and Rector Michael Ignatieff as saying that “this is a malicious attempt not only to discredit CEU but to discredit the American regulators who have repeatedly confirmed that we conduct educational activities in the US”.

“This campaign of disinformation needs to stop. CEU complied over a year ago. It is the Hungarian government that is making a solution impossible,” the rector said.

Orbán cabinet: ‘We are the European People’s Party’

Orbán EPP

“We are the European People’s Party because we continue to represent the heritage of one-time German Chancellor Helmut Kohl,” government spokesman Zoltán Kovács said in an interview published in Thursday’s Magyar Hírlap.

Kovács said that similarly to the EPP’s founders “we believe that the values of European Christian culture must be preserved and the aim is to have nation states cooperating with each other in the European Union.”

“It is certain that power relations will change in the European Parliament after the EP elections next May,” he said.

Despite some differences in opinion, he said Hungary’s ruling parties support Manfred Weber for the post of lead candidate for heading the European Commission. It is possible to engage in “sensible and meaningful debates” with Weber, unlike with Alexander Stubb, who belongs to the EPP liberal wing, he added.

In response to a question concerning a possible future compromise by the Hungarian government regarding the Sargentini report, which Weber supported in an EP vote, he said such a move “would go against common sense” because Hungary is right about its aims, and order needs to be part and parcel of a democracy, too.

Kovács declined to speculate on whether Fidesz would still be an EPP member next year at this time.

He said Fidesz pursued a Christian democratic and conservative ideology and the Fidesz-KDNP alliance was among the political parties in the EPP which got the most support in their home country in the past two EP elections.

Commenting on the issue of the Central European University (CEU), the spokesman said statements that the university might take the issuance of diplomas to another country were political bluffs. Kovács expressed the conviction that the “Soros university” will continue to operate in Budapest. Hungary needs every university that helps young Hungarians acquire competitive knowledge but the same rules apply to all and the Hungarian state only gets involved in education to the extent like any other state.

Jobbik about the CEU-affair

ceu budapest hungary

Published on the Facebook account of Márton Gyöngyösi, the leader of Jobbik’s parliamentary group: 

After everybody has expressed their opinions on the political implications of the Central European University’s current situation, let me discuss it from a different point of view. This is the point of view of a parent who raises an 11-year-old boy and, just like so many others in this country, strives to help his child become a successful, happy and satisfied adult. Besides that, I also want him to be honest, a good patriot and a true Christian who is a pride of his family and earns the respect of the people who know him. Last but not least, I want him to be a free man; someone who can make life-forming decisions and take responsibility for them, too.

That’s exactly why I don’t want to dictate him how he should achieve all that. It doesn’t matter if he grows up to be a teacher, doctor, IT expert, banker or a craftsman, carpenter or bricklayer. I’m not even scared by the idea that he might take on a career in politics. I don’t want to tell him what schools he should graduate from. All I want from him is to always remember the values that he was given at home.

But it doesn’t mean that I would be afraid for my son to be in the company of people with different views on the world. I myself was never afraid of that, and I spent a lot of time among liberal and leftist people during my university years. Indeed, I had a lot of debates with them, I argued for my own truth and I learnt a lot about how to stand for what is important for me. So I wouldn’t be scared even if my son wanted to go to a university like the CEU. A true patriot, a true Christian can tell the good from the bad and stand for his own truth.

This is the big difference between true patriotism, true conservatism and what this sticky-fingered Hungarian government is doing. Their problem is not the ideology of the CEU… Not at all, come on! Their problem is that they don’t own the CEU.

Viktor Orbán doesn’t want to raise Hungarian children to become patriots or true Christians. He wants to raise servants. He wants people who can be made to kneel before the Fidesz-delegated mayor while they are in elementary school, their creativity curbed by the Fidesz-appointed principal while they are in high school and finally be thrown into a local assembly plant of a big western corporation.

And if they like none of these options, Fidesz will mercifully allow them to go abroad, just to be called traitors by Fidesz’ media back home. That’s why the Orbán regime wants to put its hand on every school. They’ve already taken most of the universities, now it’s time for high schools and then whatever is left. However, they can’t put their hands on the CEU and that’s their real problem.

Today it’s not just a CEU issue. It’s not the political cause that we must stand for. What we must stand for is the Hungarian universities and the honour of knowledge.

I stand for freedom that is based on knowledge and independence that is based on a willingness to engage in debates. I stand for my son being able to decide what he wants to become and not having to rely on the guidance of any mayor or Fidesz puppet, just like I never had to rely on either the council chairman or any foul-smelling Communist comrade. I want to raise my son to become a confident Hungarian man and not a kowtowing servant. I also want all other young Hungarian men to be proud Hungarians who know their place in the world. And the real threat to this effort is not the CEU but Viktor Orbán and his regime…

As we wrote before, the CEU has said that unless the university can emerge from its current legal limbo in Hungary by December 1, the new student intake for its American accredited masters and doctoral programmes will study at the CEU’s new campus in Vienna, read details HERE.

Photo: ceu.edu