by COLlive staff
Over the next five years, the Hungarian government will provide a total of nearly USD 22 million in financial aid to Milton Friedman University which is run by Chabad-affiliated EMIH — Association of Hungarian Jewish Communities.
Hungary’s Minister of Innovation and Technology László Palkovics made the announcement during a meeting with Chabad Rabbi Shlomo Köves. The funds will be used to develop and expand the institute’s range of training.
According to the agreement, the Hungarian government will provide close to USD 22 million over the next five years. The institute will also receive nearly USD 1.7 million in additional funding this year, bringing the amount of financial aid at disposal in 2022 to USD 3 million.
The university will then receive USD 3.9 million in government funding in 2023, USD 4.8 million in 2024, USD 3.2 million in 2025, USD 3.2 million in 2025, and USD 3.5 million in 2027.
The support will be used to further develop the university and expand the educational program. As part of that effort, a Teacher Training Course has been accredited, and an international Master’s degree in Jewish Studies has been launched.
Additionally, a Bachelor‘s degree in Jewish Studies will launch in 2023 with the help from the Ashkenazium institute which hosts renowned professors of Jewish Studies from the US and Israel.
“The Jewish community in Hungary has made significant intellectual contributions to the prosperity of the country in both culture and science over the past 200-250 years,” says Dániel Bodnár, president of Milton Friedman University.
“That is why we consider it important that Hungarian Jewry, like other historic religious groups, also play its part in higher education and, through it, social responsibility. We hope that with this support, the university can do even more for the benefit of Hungarian society and higher education, and convey the values of the Jewish community.”
The Milton Friedman University is a higher education institution formerly known as King Sigismund College. It was purchased by EMIH five years ago and renamed after the Nobel Prize-winning American Jewish economist.
The institute provides degrees in human resources, business informatics, management and administration, communication and media studies, international management, international studies, finance and accounting, sociology, and more. The number of students applying to Milton Friedman University increased by about 35% in 2021 and continues to grow.
“A university with competitive, secular disciplines and around 1,400 students, maintained by the Jewish community, is quite unique for Europe,” said Rabbi Köves. “This is an immense opportunity not only for Hungary and the Hungarian Jewish community, but also for the European Jewish community.”
This March, the Hungarian government signed similar agreements with 11 universities maintained by the Catholic Church and four maintained by the Reformed Church. The funding agreement with Milton Friedman University the assembly expands this assembly with Jewish representation.
