Steven N.After the Constitutional Court rejected attempts by the political opposition to hold a national referendum on Fudan University two weeks ago, officials began organizing a local referendum on the issue, said Krisztina Baranyi, Mayor of Budapest’s District IX, to ATV.
Baranyi said that now only local referendums in Ferencváros and in the capital would be possible. The Mayor also indicated that voters may not only be asked about Fudan, but also about other important issues in Budapest.
On when the referendums could be held, Baranyi said that whether at the same time or separately, the most optimistic timeline suggests that a referendum could be held in early or mid-autumn.
The Mayor of Ferencváros also found it strange that while Viktor Orbán had promised there would be no national referendum on Fudan University, newly-installed Minister of Culture and Innovation János Csák is saying that he would be happy to see Fudan in Budapest.
Csák recently commented that Fudan was one of the best universities in the world, and if it can offer quality education to students in Hungary as well, it will continue to increase the country’s attractiveness in the higher education market and therefore be worth bringing to Budapest. [HVG]
While European educations attract a large number of Chinese students, who very often use matriculation as a way of getting a chance of working for wages, paid in the EU, rather than studying, and because the state-paid foreign tuition fees obligate free work for the Chinese state afterwards, Orbán offers to help the Chinese government to close a big hole in their economy.
This scam is not relevant to people outside Budapest, but it’s important for the Chinese government, because a large number of Chinese live and work semi-indepently (and send home real money) in Eastern Europe, out of the control of the Chinese government.