The European Commission remains dissatisfied with Hungary’s legal amendments and continues to exclude Hungarian students and researchers from Erasmus+ and Horizon programmes. Hungary’s Minister for Culture and Innovation condemned the decision, while six universities have filed legal action against Brussels, alleging discrimination.
In response to the growing number of reports of party political and ideological bias in Hungarian universities, the Foundation for Transparent Journalism has launched the ‘Transparent Education’ initiative. The project includes the development of guidelines, workshops, and a hotline for students to report such cases.
At the InnoTrans 2024 International Transport Exhibition in Berlin Hungarian state railways MÁV, MÁV-START, and the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) signed a cooperation agreement to enhance passenger and freight services. The agreement aims to reduce travel times on the Budapest–Vienna route and improve collaboration in technical areas, promising a faster, more efficient rail network by 2028.
Speaking at the festive senate meeting marking the start of the academic year at the University of Pécs on the Day of Hungarian Higher Education, State Secretary Varga-Bajusz noted that higher education serves students, families, teachers, the Hungarian economy, and the Hungarian nation—essentially, it is ‘for us, our present, and our future.’
The SpaceBuzz-HU, which allows for virtual space travel, is part of an educational programme demonstrating the fragility of our planet and will be made available to Hungarian schools free of charge.
Luca Mórocz, who came to the U.S. in 2017 as a Hungarian American Coalition (HAC) intern and has worked as a foreign exchange diplomat at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs assigned to the U.S. State Department’s Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, is currently living and studying in Washington, D.C., organizing various HAC events and a leadership training program. In the interview she talks about her experience in the US, her professional career, and shares her thoughts regarding the challenges of youth engagement Hungarian organizations in the United States face while introducing her new project, the HYPE Network.
‘Although the seemingly insurmountable challenge of these rapid changes may make us justifiably depressed, we need to think about the future of our children. Although they didn’t choose these changes, it is their lives that will be shaped by the processes that are starting now. It is up to us to make our voices heard—and the EP and Hungarian municipal elections will be a good opportunity to do so.’
Day 2 of the Rule of Law as Lawfare Conference featured speeches by István Stumpf, a former justice on the Constitutional Court of Hungary, Aleksander Stępkowski, Supreme Court of Poland justice, and Dr Reinhard Merkel, law professor at Universität Hamburg.
The aim of the HU-rizont programme is to facilitate and strengthen the international collaboration of outstanding Hungarian researchers. A total of 8 billion forints are available for the application this year. During the application process, not only the research costs of Hungarian universities are covered, but also those of foreign universities are supported.
In this year’s first call for applications, the European Union is giving out 35,500 free passes, with an initial quota of 779 passes for young Hungarians aged 18.