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The threatened Central European University in Budapest has signed a memorandum of understanding with a US college, a move that it hopes will lead to an agreement with Hungary¡¯s government that allows it to stay in the country.

Negotiations between the Hungarian government and New York State over the CEU¡¯s future in Budapest have now ¡°created the basis for an agreement¡±, according to a CEU spokeswoman.

Earlier this year, the Hungarian government passed a law that imposed a range of restrictions on overseas universities in the country, including the need to maintain a campus in their home country.

The law was seen as a further move against liberal institutions in Hungary that might oppose the government, and the CEU claimed that it specifically was being targeted.

On 3 October, the CEU said that it had agreed with Bard College to ¡°provide educational activities in New York¡±.

¡°We hope that this MOU, which does not preclude future agreements with other New York-based institutions, helps to provide the basis for a speedy conclusion to this affair,¡± the spokeswoman said.

¡°We await the Hungarian government¡¯s signature of the agreement and parliament¡¯s ratification in order to enable the CEU to continue operating in Budapest, which has always been our goal,¡± she added.

However, in the Hungarian press quote L¨¢szl¨® Palkovics,?the education undersecretary, as saying that the government would not necessarily sign an agreement on the CEU¡¯s future this year because the university¡¯s programmes in the US still needed to be accredited.

david.matthews@timeshighereducation.com