US senators pen letter to Orbán on keeping CEU in Budapest
Washington, DC, April 21 (MTI) – A bipartisan group of United States senators have written a letter to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán asking him and the Hungarian government to work together with the Central European University (CEU) on finding a solution that will enable it to continue its operations in Budapest.
In their letter sent on Thursday, the senators, led by Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, expressed their concern over the amendments to the higher education act recently passed by parliament, saying that the new law threatened academic freedom in Hungary.
The senators stressed that the CEU plays an important role in developing cultural and academic relations between Hungary and the US.
They said the CEU had become one of the highest-ranked universities in Europe and had brought prestige and new opportunities to Hungarian citizens.
“Instead of shutting down academic institutions that expand bilateral relationships, we should be working together to strengthen them and expand their accessibility,” they wrote.
The senators also expressed concern that the law would put at risk academic institutions in Hungary in general.
They said the amended higher education law included exceptions that would apply to the other 27 international universities in the country “so that in the end it applies solely to CEU”.
Photo: Pixabay, facebook.com/ChrisMurphyCT
Source: MTI
2 Comments
Senator Chris Murphy is misinformed. How can a Hungarian University issue American degrees without any connection to an American University? Next Mr. Murphy will be suggesting that CEU should issue Harvard University degrees. All CEU has to do is either form and association with an American University, which will oversee the curriculum and the standard of teaching or just issue a Hungarian diploma. Mr. Murphy is also misinformed about CEU’s standing, it is not listed in the top 500 universities in Europe.
Just checked the list of Hungarian universities, CEU is not listed in the top 43. I wonder if they teach synchronized knitting? If CEU is such a great university why is it that no European Nation wants it????