Hungarian President Janos Ader has signed controversial new legislation that could force a university founded by U.S. billionaire George Soros to leave the country.
Ader said in an April 10 statement that the bill was in line with the constitution and did not infringe academic freedom.
Last week, the nationalist government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban rushed the bill requiring foreign universities in Hungary to have a campus and provide similar courses in their country of origin through parliament in a matter of days, triggering street protests.
Many in Hungary and abroad believe the law is aimed at Budapest’s Central European University (CEU), which Orban’s government sees as a bastion of the liberal opposition.
Under the law, the CEU could be forced to stop accepting students in 2018 and to shutter its doors in 2021.