Orbán’s cabinet submits amendment to higher education law

The government has submitted an amendment to Hungary’s higher education law, aimed at extending the deadline for foreign universities to meet the law’s criteria, enacted in spring, by one year.

Justice Minister László Trócsányi told a press conference on Friday that despite “all pressure lacking any legal foundations” the government upholds its position that

“Hungarian laws apply to all, even to the US-based Central European University” (CEU).

Trócsányi said that the conditions defined in the law’s spring amendment were “predictable, clear and easy to meet”. In spring, parliament set a deadline of January 1, 2018 for subject universities to meet the criteria.

If parliament approves the proposed amendment, the deadline for meeting the law’s criteria will be January 1, 2019, he said.

Hungarian lawmakers approved amendments to the higher education act in the spring that require foreign colleges and universities in Hungary to operate on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement and to have 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 in the spring that it was targeted by the amended legislation because it has no campus in the United States. Early in October,

CEU said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Bard College to provide educational activities in New York.

Negotiations between the State of New York and the government of Hungary “have created the basis for an agreement”, it added.

The Hungarian government and the State of Maryland have already reached an agreement on cooperation in the field of higher education that will bring the local campus of McDaniel College in line with the amended rules.

The agreement was reached “recognizing the benefits each of the two countries may gain as a result of strengthening bilateral cooperation in accordance with the rules and regulations applied in each country”.

Trócsányi  noted that the agreement with McDaniel College had been published in the latest issue of the official gazette Magyar Közlöny and said other institutions of higher education had been able to comply with the new rules before the original deadline, too.