University Models in Changing Political Contexts

Abstract

The impact of radical political changes had a surprisingly strong impact upon the universities in Hungary. In the twentieth century, Hungary was part of two empires (the Habsburg and the Soviet empires), suffered from two World Wars, lived under two totalitarian regimes (communism twice, Nazism once), and experienced several revolutions. One would expect that universities would provide asylums, hiding places for professionals to defend themselves in such stormy atmosphere. In fact, however, the universities proved to be one of the first points to which political changes were extended. Besides showing data about the political influences on the number of universities, personnel, and curricula, this paper intends to provide an analysis of this transition, and illustrate the mechanism of change on the basis of the Technical University of Budapest, focusing on the period of 1945–1953. This is the period of the introduction of the Soviet university model to replace the traditional German one. The paper aims to prove that the myth of expertise does not shield universities from political intrusion but it helps to make the intrusion somewhat endurable.