The opposition LMP party is launching an online petition in protest against the reorganisation of the University of Pécs, “to prevent the university’s assets and leadership from being handed to a foundation led by Fidesz cadres,” the party said on Monday.
The university, besides being an economic and cultural hub, is the most important employer in the southern Hungarian city, LMP’s parliamentary group leader, László Lóránt Keresztes, told an online press conference.
The medical universities’ switch to the new, government-preferred foundation-based working model is on the agenda. So far, eight higher education institutions did so or were forced to do so, and two more would switch over in 2021. The government says it aims to raise competitiveness and reliability. The Hungarian way, however, differs from the international […]Continue reading
The reorganisation was being “forced through at breakneck speed, without substantial guarantees” that the university’s senate would retain its powers, especially employer’s rights, Keresztes said.
“The government could appoint [political] cadres to key positions at their heart’s content,”
Keresztes said. He also called on the government to “give back the billions of forints stripped from the university last year” and to fund a wage hike, saying wages were “humiliatingly low”.
featured image: László Lóránt Keresztes; via Tamás Kovács/MTI