BUDAPEST, May 30 (Xinhua) -- The Central European University (CEU) will conduct all of its activities in Budapest in the 2017-2018 academic year, according to CEU president and rector Michael Ignatieff, who spoke on Tuesday here at a press conference.
"We will not be closed. Budapest is our home," said Ignatieff, adding that they hoped that a long-term agreement would be reached as soon as possible, allowing CEU to remain in the eastern European city.
The Hungarian Parliament earlier approved amendments to the higher education act 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.
The CEU, which is accredited in the state of New York but has only one campus in Budapest, said that the amendments would make its continued operation in Budapest impossible. In April and May, several demonstrations were held in the Hungarian capital as a show of solidarity with the CEU.
The CEU welcomes the start of negotiations between the government of the United States and the state of New York, Ignatieff said, adding that the representative of the Hungarian government had a conversation with the leadership of the state of New York over the phone last Friday.
At the end of last week, both the Hungarian government, and the state of New York confirmed that they were ready to start genuine negotiations about the future of the university founded by the Hungarian-born American billionaire George Soros.
Ignatieff called on the government to define precisely what educational activities should be done in New York under the revised higher education act.
He indicated that there had been no downturn in the number of applications, but at the same time a quick solution was needed to continue to recruit students for next year. Without an agreement between the state of New York and the Hungarian government, the university will no longer be able to do so under the amended higher education act.
Ignatieff also announced that an international conference on academic freedom would be held on June 22, with writer Mario Vargas Llosa, a Nobel Prize winner, and former German President Joachim Gauck in attendance.
"The events of recent weeks have made us more aware of our obligations to the city and the country. We must remain as long as possible," emphasized Zsolt Enyedi, deputy rector of the university for Hungarian affairs.
