CEU said in a statement that it was making the announcement in order to guarantee that it can recruit students in time for the beginning of the next academic year.

“Over the course of 20 months, CEU has taken all steps to comply with Hungarian legislation, launching educational activities in the US that were certified by US authorities.

Nevertheless, the Hungarian government has made it clear it has no intention of signing the agreement that it negotiated over a year ago with the State of New York, which would ensure CEU’s operations in Budapest for the long term,” the statement added.

“CEU has been forced out,” the university’s president and rector Michael Ignatieff said. “This is unprecedented. A US institution has been driven out of a country that is a NATO ally. A European institution has been ousted from a member state of the EU.”

Hungary’s amended higher education act requires foreign colleges and universities in Hungary to operate on the basis of an interstate agreement and to run a campus in the country in which they are based.

MTI Photo: Szigetváry Zsolt