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Speaking on public radio, Katz said restoring access had required a lengthy and complex legal process, including reorganizing university boards of trustees and withdrawing a previous decision by the Council of the European Union.
Some students will be able to undertake short-term mobility placements this fall, while the program will be fully operational from the spring semester, he said.
Katz expressed hope that there would be no difference in access between universities previously maintained by public interest asset management foundations, known by the Hungarian acronym KEKVA, and state institutions. He added that participation also depended on universities, which apply for Erasmus on behalf of their students.
Katz said two important steps had been required at universities to unlock EU funding. Boards of trustees had to be re-elected through open tenders, a process completed by Aug. 31, and organizational and operational rules had to be amended to comply with the legal requirements for state institutions.
He described flexible financing as the greatest advantage of the foundation model. Those universities operated under six-year financing agreements rather than as budgetary institutions.
“This should be retained in some form,” Katz said, adding that the asset management function had been entirely unnecessary.
Universities that switched to the foundation model received roughly twice as much funding per student as state universities, he said. Compensating state institutions in next year’s budget would therefore be important.
Katz also said negotiations concerning Central European University were underway and expressed hope that the issue would be resolved shortly.
The government is open to CEU once again operating as a full degree-granting university in Budapest, but further steps depend on the institution, he said.
CEU moved its U.S.-accredited programs to Vienna beginning with the 2019-2020 academic year after failing to reach an agreement with the government over whether its activities at Bard College in New York met the requirements of the 2017 amendment to Hungary’s higher education law.
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