BM 62 – Responsible Reforms in Hungary
After one and a half years of numerous objections and protests, the new law on higher education in Hungary was adopted on 23rd December 2011 by the Parliament. HÖOK – despite achieving significant wins and concessions– could not support and fully accept it, especially due to the fact that it is conflicting with certain values of the European Union, and delegating the regulation of various important issues solely to the authority of the government.
We are deeply concerned that the national government is still insisting on their plan to reorganize the state universities and colleges in a professionally indefensible way and force them into institutional mergers.
We strongly believe that such decisions can only be made with the involvement and consent of the subjects, keeping the quality of education and research as priority to benefit the students, professors and society as a whole.
The European Students’ Union, as the umbrella organization of European national student unions, where HÖOK is a full member, calls on the Hungarian government to respect the historical and traditional autonomy of higher education, to avoid limiting the means to access it, endangering the possibilities of the Hungarian youth to participate in higher education and do not risk the future of Hungarian intellectuals!
