Central European University considers expanding Budapest presence after Hungary’s political shift
The university is open to increasing its activities in Hungary following Péter Magyar’s election victory, while keeping its main base in Vienna and protecting students’ experience.
By Lorenzo Patterson ·
Central European University is considering a larger presence in Budapest following the change of government in Hungary, seven years after political pressure prompted it to move its main operations to Vienna. Its interim president and rector, Carsten Q Schneider, said expansion would depend on preserving the quality of students’ education.
Schneider told the Guardian that formal discussions with the new government had not begun, although both sides had indicated interest in engagement. Péter Magyar, who won a landslide election victory in April on promises to tackle corruption and reform the state, leads a government that has pledged to restore academic freedom.
Founded in 1991 by Hungarian-American financier and philanthropist George Soros to support democratic change in the region, CEU stopped awarding degrees in Budapest following legislation widely regarded as directed against it. The university transferred its main activities to Vienna in 2019 under pressure from Viktor Orbán’s government. In 2020, the EU’s highest court ruled that the legislation breached the EU charter of fundamental rights, but the decision arrived after the relocation.
CEU still employs 312 people in Budapest, mainly in administrative roles, while Vienna has 476 staff and hosts all teaching. Schneider said strengthening the privately funded university’s position in Hungary would demonstrate academic freedom and resilience. Any move would require goodwill and financing independent of the Hungarian government, with the final decision resting with its 13-member board, which includes Soros and his son Alexander.
A complete return to Budapest is not planned. Schneider said CEU was flourishing in Vienna and that any expansion must allow students to combine subjects without travelling more than 200km between the cities. Specialising in social sciences, law and humanities, the university enrols more than 1,400 students from 103 countries, primarily in master’s and doctoral programmes.
American students now form the largest national group on CEU’s master’s programmes, accounting for 10%, Schneider said. Applications from the US have increased since Donald Trump returned to the White House and began a campaign against elite universities, including cuts to federal funding and attempts to influence their internal policies.
Schneider has spoken informally with US academics about defending academic freedom against pressure from rightwing populists. He urged universities to build support among other institutions, students, graduates and parents, and to defend targeted subjects such as gender studies. He also acknowledged that Trump and allied movements had identified real problems, including the role of American universities in perpetuating elites.
A German political scientist whose work examines democracy and regime transitions, Schneider said Magyar had effectively turned Orbán’s political machinery against him. But he cautioned that the abilities needed to remove a non-democratic government could differ sharply from those required to establish a democracy.
Schneider suggested Hungary might become a model for democratic restoration, while expressing uncertainty about the direction Magyar and his Tisza party would take amid difficult economic conditions. A crucial test, he said, would come when Magyar’s support declined: whether he could sustain a competitive multiparty system and ultimately accept electoral defeat remained to be seen.
