The opposition Jobbik party has vowed to conduct a review the transfer of Hungarian universities to foundations if it enters government.
Jobbik lawmaker Koloman Brenner said his party did not object to the principle of running universities differently to the state model, but it disagreed with the practice of stripping teachers and students of their decision-making powers and handing them to supervisory boards. He said universities had enjoyed autonomy “ever since the middle ages”. He said Jobbik supported academic freedom and the autonomy of universities, and proposed reducing the “outstandingly high” administrative burdens placed on lecturers, reducing the weekly number of classes and setting up of an independent ministry of education. Brenner called on ruling Fidesz to stop policies “hostile to knowledge and the intelligentsia”, to provide more resources for teachers’ wages and student benefits, and spend more on halls of residents and other infrastructure developments.
hungarymatters.hu
