Hungarian lawmakers on Tuesday approved legislation that could force the closure of a prestigious Budapest university founded by US billionaire investor George Soros, sparking fresh protests. The English-language Central European University (CEU), set up in 1991 after the fall of communism, has long been seen as a hostile bastion of liberalism by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government.
MPs in the 199-seat parliament, dominated by Orban's Fidesz party, voted 123 in favour and 38 against the legislation affecting foreign universities operating in Hungary. The new rules ban institutions outside the European Union from awarding Hungarian diplomas without an agreement between national governments. They will also be required to have a campus and faculties in their home country - conditions not met by the CEU.
Failure to comply would mean the CEU could not accept new student intakes from 2018, and possibly close by 2021. The CEU said Tuesday it would contest the constitutionality of the bill. "The new law puts at risk the academic freedom not only of CEU but of other Hungarian research and academic institutions," the university said in a statement.
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