“Another American university will be able to launch its education programme in Budapest from next September”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Friday in New York.

The Minister explained that one of America’s most historic universities, the Indiana-based University of Notre Dame, which occupies 150th place in the global university rankings, has concluded a cooperation agreement with the Pázmány Péter Catholic University. “Cooperation between the two institutions has been ongoing for the past two decades, but this March the two universities decided to conclude a new education agreement, within the framework of which the University of Notre Dame will be launching faculties in Budapest in 2019, while the courses of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, which are also accredited by the Vatican, will also be on offer at the Indiana institution”, he said.

The two universities are currently finalising the agreement on the launching of Notre Dame’s courses in Hungary, the coming into force of which is dependent on the conclusion of an inter-governmental agreement between Hungary and the United States, in accordance with the Act on Higher Education, Mr. Szijjártó told the press. “According to the U.S. legal system, the Hungarian Government must conclude these agreements with the State of Indiana”, he pointed out, adding that he will be holding talks on the subject with the State’s Secretary of Commerce on Friday.

He also mentioned that the existing economic and trade cooperation agreement concluded last year between Hungary and Indiana will be supplemented with an article on education that sets down the cooperation between the two universities and the launching of Notre Dame’s courses in Hungary.

“In view of the fact that the positions of the leadership of the State of Indiana and the Hungarian Government point in the same direction with regard to this issue, we can expect rapid negotiations, and I see no barrier to Notre Dame beginning its courses in Hungary  from next September”, Mr. Szijjártó stated.

(MTI)