Hungary has signed a cooperation agreement with Maryland State in the United States to continue the operations of the Budapest school of McDaniel College.
Péter Szijjártó, minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, signed the agreement in Annapolis on Friday and said it proves that “those who want to come to an agreement with the Hungarian government, can".
He added that the higher education legislation does not set any conditions vis-à-vis universities based abroad that cannot be met.
According to MTI, Minister Szijjártó said that pursuant to the higher education legislation, the continued operation in Hungary of universities based in countries outside the European Union is tied to the conclusion of inter-state agreements.
McDaniel College was established in 1867, and has had a campus in the city of Westminster in Maryland for 150 years. The institution is consequently a university with long-standing operations and major traditions in the United States.
The agreement states that the university will issue degrees to its students in Budapest – for whom it provides four-year undergraduate training in English – within the framework of its US accreditation.
The minister said that the educational institutions operating in Hungary must comply with the laws, and the fact that a US university with traditions going back 150 years “can meet the conditions without any trouble” indicates that “every serious institution is able to meet those conditions if they want to”.