The minister noted that the Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine was the second higher education institution whose future in Hungary had been secured under the new higher education law after McDaniel College of the US State of Maryland. This proves that the criteria laid down in the higher education law can be met, he said.

Szijjártó said there were a total of five universities in Hungary whose home countries needed to sign interstate agreements with Hungary in order to secure their continued operations in the country. Hungary tightened rules governing the operations of foreign universities in the country in the spring, requiring foreign colleges and universities in Hungary to operate on the basis of an interstate agreement and run a campus in the country in which they are based.

The minister called the agreement a milestone in Hungarian-Chinese educational cooperation. Szijjártó noted that the 50-year-old Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine has had a school at Budapest’s Semmelweis University since 2010. He also noted that in May, Hungary and China elevated their bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, the highest rank in China’s diplomatic relations.

Hungary’s interest lies in upholding this tight cooperation with one of the world’s strongest economies, Szijjártó said. The minister said that Chinese language learning was available at all levels of Hungary’s education system, noting that Hungary is home to the regional centre of Confucius Institutes as well as the highest number of such institutes in the region.

Asked about the progression of intergovernmental talks concerning the remaining foreign universities in Hungary, Szijjártó said Hungary would sign agreements with the states in which those institutions are based once all matters are agreed upon. He expressed hope that an agreement would eventually be reached on the future of Budapest’s Central European University as well.

Xu Mei, head of the Provincial Education Commission of China’s Heilongjiang province, attributed the significance of the agreement to Hungarian-Chinese relations being based on cultural and educational cooperation.

MTI photo: Máthé Zoltán

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter