Roma Education Fund Stands with CEU

The Roma Education Fund (REF) expresses its solidarity with the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest as it faces an unprecedented legal challenge to its operations. As a foundation mandated to contribute to closing the gap in educational outcomes between Roma and non-Roma, REF stands with CEU and its founding principles.

The Roma Education Fund (REF) expresses its solidarity with the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest as it faces an unprecedented legal challenge to its operations. As a foundation mandated to contribute to closing the gap in educational outcomes between Roma and non-Roma, REF stands with CEU and its founding principles.

Home to the Roma Graduate Preparation Program (RGPP), the CEU has helped shape the academic and professional trajectory of hundreds of Roma higher education students. The CEU is central to REF’s aspiration to increase the number of Roma with higher education degrees who can be a resource both for the community and mainstream society. Our contribution to RGPP has helped many talented Roma students to enroll in the CEU’s graduate programs – as well as many other distinguished academic programs and schools – and obtain their degrees.

In its 25 years of existence, CEU has become a center for Roma intellectual and leadership development that is exceptional and unique in the whole of Europe. In 2016 this role of the CEU was strengthened with the launch of Roma in European Societies, an interdisciplinary initiative led by a newly appointed Roma Chair. The initiative brings together several dozen Roma students from across the university’s departments, among them REF-supported students aiming for their MAs and PhDs.

The Roma Education Fund remains extremely concerned about the proposed restrictions on academic freedoms and independence made by the Hungarian government, and we join those who stand with CEU to assure our voices are heard. 

Andrzej Mirga
Chair of Roma Education Fund