News Talks: Can Magyar free Hungary’s universities of Orbán’s populist influence?

After Péter Magyar’s landslide election victory, we discuss why restoring independence and academic freedom to Hungarian higher education may not be an easy task.  --- Right wing populist leader Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule in Hungary has come to an end after his rival Peter Magyar won a two thirds majority in the general election. Centre-right leader Magyar has promised to rebuild relations with Europe, tackle corruption and cronyism and restore academic freedom. On this episode of News Talks, Campus editor Miranda Prynne talks to Times Higher Education Europe reporter Seher Asif about why the ousting of Orbán may provoke mixed feelings among Hungary’s academics and higher education leaders, how the former populist leader reshaped the country’s universities and why reversing the Orbán era policies may not be a simple matter. The conversation also turns to what lessons the experience of Hungary’s universities might offer to other higher education systems around the world threatened with government hostility and interference.