The Central European University has been in the spotlight for a couple of days now. The university - backed by pro-immigration, liberal billionaire George Soros - has been lamenting on how impossible it is it to function in Hungary. The reason they gave for this is of course, was because of the ’dictatorial’ Hungarian government.

One might be tempted to regard CEU as the victim in this scenario, but we should examine the matter closely.

According to the Hungarian education law that came into effect in 2017, only those institutions are eligible to issue a foreign degree in Hungary which actively carry out accredited educational practise in their home countries as well.

It is precisely this simple criteria that Soros’ university cannot fulfil, because its “mother campus” in the United States simply doesn’t exist. The building you see below is supposed to be the headquarters of an allegedly world-class university:

Yes, the building is owned by CEU, but as it turns out, it serves no educational purposes. Hence, CEU is operating illegally, at least according to the Hungarian law.

But the fact that CEU has no actual, serious headquarters in the US is hardly the fault of the Hungarian government. After all, other educational institutions also failed to meet the necessary requirements posed by the Hungarian laws, such as:

• Webster University (USA)
• University of Hertfordshire (UK)
• Anglia Ruskin University (UK)
• Université Paris Ouest Nanterre la Défense (France)
• Middlesex University (UK)
• University of Wales (UK)

Therefor Soros’ university is not the only one affected by the Hungarian law by far – yet it gets all the spotlight for some reason.

The typical liberal whining, that the freedom of education is threatened in Hungary, is also unfounded. Take for example the University of Notre Dame, which had no problem what so ever to accept the amended Hungarian laws. Accordingly, the institution will start its American-accredited degree programs in 2019.

Thirdly, the suggestion that this is some personal witch hunt directed against George Soros by the Hungarian government, also falls short when one learns that Austria is also reluctant to welcome CEU.

President and Rector of CEU, Michael Ignatieff announced on December 3 that it will transfer all American-accredited degree programs to Vienna. If it is true, that the problem of the CEU goes back to academic freedom suppressed in Hungary, how come Heinz-Christian Strache, Vice-Chancellor of Austria was rather critical of the prospect of having CEU in Vienna?

How come Prague did not want to have Soros’ university back in 2017? Better yet: why did CEU leave Prague in the first place, back in 1993?

Above we can see how George Soros commented on the fact the CEU had to move to Budapest from Prague in the first place. By his words, it is not an enormous stretch to believe that the university is more akin to a political instructional facility than an educational institution focusing on objectivity and knowledge.

Perhaps those that go all the way to frame CEU as a victim should first educate themselves on what exactly they are protecting.