Final government takeovers feared amid Hungary rector search

Job adverts hint at tussles for control over one of Hungary’s last public universities, according to its vice-rector, as the ministry confirms it is in talks with two others on conversion to a controversial governance model.

Hungary’s government told Times Higher Education that the senates of two public universities, the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and the Hungarian University of Fine Arts, had approved talks with it on becoming foundation-owned.

The model, which transfers university assets to a public-interest foundation controlled by a government-appointed board, has been widely criticised for stifling autonomy and has led to European Union funding to institutions being frozen.

An advert recruiting a new rector for the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music has raised alarm as it was open only to performers with international classical music prizes and recordings, despite the 148-year-old institution specialising in composition, musicology and music pedagogy, including in folk and jazz.

In a motion, the university’s senate called the advert “discriminatory”, “foreign to the traditions of the university” and said that it set a “dangerous and unacceptable precedent in the history of modern Hungarian higher education”.

After an open letter signed by more than 200 faculty criticised the conditions, Hungary’s minister for universities, János Csák, announced he would change it, doing so days later but keeping a requirement that applicants hold a high state award.

Mr Csák said he had spoken with the Association of Hungarian Musicians when writing the advert, a body founded and led by András Keller, a conductor who has signalled he would apply for the Liszt Academy job.

Gyula Fekete, the academy’s vice-rector for research and international affairs, told Times Higher Education the ministry had likely tailored the adverts for Professor Keller as it wanted a rector who would steer the university senate towards foundation ownership.

“The ministry sees the opportunity that if they put somebody here who is representing their ideas then it might be easier to switch us as well,” he said, adding that Liszt’s 22-member senate had voted unanimously against adopting the model a few months ago and that a politicised oversight board would only disrupt the university’s work.

“The best professors are here teaching, so who is coming above us? We don’t need anybody, because Ferenc Liszt is above us,” he said, referring to traditions set by the pianist and composer – also known as Franz Liszt – who founded the university.

Responding to the claims, the ministry said it wanted a rector “who can ensure the restoration of the academy’s former reputation”.

“We need a rector who has already proved his or her talent and competence, who is internationally known and respected, who has the leadership experience and knowledge and, above all, the motivation not only to halt the decline of the Liszt Academy, but also to put it back to growth,” a spokesperson said.

The ministry added that the shift to a foundation model had only happened when academic senates sought it, although critics have accused it of coercion in other cases.

The ministry denied that it was seeking to change the governance of the Liszt Academy and said that “several Hungarian artists meet the conditions included in the tender”. A representative for Professor Keller noted his teaching experience, including at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and said he could not comment on the university’s future funding model.

“András Keller’s possible intention to be a tenderer for the rector position is coming from his deep personal artistic convictions and is not part of any power play,” the spokesperson said.

ben.upton@timeshighereducation.com