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The agreement, signed in December, is another bold step for Chinese science and technology in Central and Eastern Europe and a finger tap on the growing politicization of higher education and research in Hungary.
The Hungarian government emphasizes the “research achievements” of Fudan University and claims that its branch will “improve” the standards of higher education in Hungarian higher education institutions, help to acquire international competitive skills and gain the necessary experience for development. of the Hungarian economy.
Plans to establish a branch of Fudan University in Hungary are met with considerable skepticism by the academic community. The latter has recently been directly affected by the country’s government’s decision to restrict the academic freedom of the Central European University (CEU) and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Following the entry into force of amendments to the Hungarian Higher Education Law adopted in 2017, which required universities wishing to operate in the country to be based in their home country, CEU was forced to withdraw from its base in Budapest. In November, it officially opened its Vienna branch, from where it now offers more than 80 percent. conferences. The amendments to the law were largely interpreted as a direct move against the CEU. The latter was founded by the Hungarian-born philanthropist George Soros, an enemy of the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, and his “anti-liberal democracy.”
Fudan University graduation ceremony
Another amendment adopted in 2019 deprived the Hungarian Academy of Sciences of its research institutes. All were reorganized into a new institution under the direct control of the Hungarian authorities.
Zsolt Enyedi, Vice Chancellor for Hungarian Affairs at CEU, told Science Business that CEU appreciates the willingness of foreign universities to develop their activities in Hungary and “wishes Fudan the best of luck.” However, Enyedi says that Fudan’s branch is another example of the country’s prime minister, Victor Orban, using universities for political gain. “It has become a habit that is just one of Orban’s new policies. It is very worrying that the emergence and disappearance of foreign universities in Hungary has become a political process. Universities should not have that role,” says the vice-chancellor.
Andras Baldi, researcher at the Center for Ecological Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, says: “There are foreign universities in the country that have the support of the country’s government. Of course, not all. “
According to a Hungarian government spokesman, the Chinese government views the Hungarian branch of the university as a “priority project for bilateral cooperation.”
“The initiative is in line with the policy of opening towards the East and the principles of the Cultural, Scientific and Educational Treaty, which was renewed by both parties last November,” he said.
Fudan University graduation ceremony
According to the QS World Universitity Ranking, Fudan University is the 40th in the world, employing more than 4,500 professors and educating more than 30,000 students. students. Recently, this higher education institution has been increasingly criticized for deciding to remove the concept of “free speech” from its charter and to include a promise to submit to the control of the Communist Party.
When asked by university representatives to comment on the situation in Hungary, no response was received.
Agreements in the region
The planned headquarters of Fudan University in Budapest is not the only step taken by the Chinese government to strengthen scientific cooperation with Hungary and other Central and Eastern European countries.
In 2019, Zoltan Birkner, President of the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Service (NRDI), traveled to Beijing to present the results of the bilateral science and technology project at the Belt and Road Initiative Forum.
According to Z. Birkner, more than one hundred applications were selected for the joint Hungarian-Chinese science and technology project and funds were submitted. In addition, ten additional joint studies and projects have been launched in the areas of antibiotics, Alzheimer’s disease, graphene and food safety.
Hungary is also cooperating with China on a joint technology transfer center in Chongqing, a project covering areas such as renewable energy, smart cities, and water treatment systems.
During talks with Z. Birkner, Chinese Vice Minister of Science and Technology Zhang Jianguo announced that China was considering deepening cooperation at the ELI-ALPS Laser Research Center in Szeged, Hungary’s third-largest city. The latter is the younger brother of ELI-NP Bucharest, the most powerful laser research infrastructure in the world.
Fudan University graduation ceremony
Strategic agricultural research in Romania
Last year, former Romanian Research Minister Nicolae Hurduc inaugurated the Sino-Romanian Science and Technology Park, a joint center run by the Bucharest University of Agronomic and Veterinary Medicine and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing.
The minister did not skimp on words about Romanian-Chinese cooperation in the field of science, calling it strategic importance and announcing plans for a renewed cooperation agreement. “We need Chinese friendship and we can be the reliable partner that Beijing needs in Eastern Europe,” Hurduc said. During that time, the government of Romania has changed and Mr. Hurduc is no longer a minister. It is not clear how far the negotiations have gone. However, Romania continues to develop projects related to the scientific and technological process and economic development in both countries.
Bulgaria connection
In December, the president of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Julian Revalski, met with Chinese Ambassador Dong Xiaojun to discuss ways to strengthen scientific cooperation between the two countries and to present a new exchange program for young researchers and PhD students. . According to Revalski, strengthening relations with China “would be very beneficial for everyone.”
In 2018, the Institute for Economic Research under the auspices of said academy signed a cooperation agreement with Fudan University for a related study program.
Poland also plans to expand the joint research funding scheme, which is being used in cooperation with China in the natural sciences sector, to include engineering.
This year, Slovakia will host the fifth China-CEEC Conference on Cooperation in Innovation, a gathering of sixteen Central and Eastern European countries and China to explore new ways of focusing science and technology solutions on common goals, search and exchange of existing skills.
In 2019, the prime ministers of 16 countries signed guidelines for cooperation with China, including an agreement to “promote investment related to innovation” in science and technology.
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