According to the heads of the institutions, it is unprecedented that the decision was made without prior consultation of the leaders and communities of the universities concerned.

suspension of the Erasmus and Horizon programs limits the freedom of education and research, the noble competition between universities for students, lecturers and researchers, the citizens of the given university community have become second-class citizens of the Union, thereby seriously violating the principle of equality between EU citizens - can be read in the open letter sent by the rectors of 21 Hungarian universities to Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, reports Origo.

The leaders of the higher education institutions consider the decision of the European Union, which excluded 182,000 students - including 30,000 international students - and 18,000 lecturers and researchers from the Erasmus+, Horizont Europe Program and other programs directly funded by the European Union, of Hungarian model universities unacceptable, and they request its immediate settlement, as well as the immediate reparation of honor and material damage to their community.

The rectors refer to Hungarian higher education with a historical tradition of more than 650 years, which has given the world many Nobel Prize-winning researchers, educators and world-famous inventions. According to the heads of the institutions, it is also unprecedented that the decision announced on the basis of the European Commission's proposal and immediately put into effect was made without prior consultation of the managers and communities of the universities concerned.

The letter states that the model change was realized with the support of more than two-thirds of the universities' autonomous bodies, communities, and senates. According to the Act on National Higher Education

the rights and obligations of maintenance management are the same,

regardless of who exercises it. The Higher Education Act clearly stipulates that maintenance management cannot violate the independence of a higher education institution, which is ensured in matters related to the scientific subject and content of education and research, the letter states.

Featured image: Thierry Monasse / Anadolu Agency / AFP