Controversial higher education reform seen as ‘belated regime change’

A conservative professor takes up the defence of the recent changes in the structure of Hungarian higher education, against opposition critics. The latter accuse the government of entrusting university education to its own people, while the professor sees the changes as a reform long overdue.

In an interview with Magyar Nemzet, conservative philosopher András Lánczi suggests that it was high time for the government to try and reform higher education, after 10 years in power. Commenting on the background to the reform which put newly established government-appointed foundations in control of a dozen universities, Professor Lánczi argues that after the regime change, intellectuals linked to the communist regime found new jobs for themselves in universities. He suggests that after 10 years in power, it is quite natural for a Conservative government to want to do something about that. 30 years after the political regime change, he concludes, it was the turn of higher education.

Tags: universities