Soros boosts private university’s funding for global move

VIENNA – Philanthropist George Soros says the private university he founded will receive a major funding boost and link up with other progressive institutions around the world.

Speaking Friday in Vienna, the Hungarian-American billionaire said his charitable foundation would commit 750 million euros ($830 million) to Central European University.

The university recently moved its U.S.-accredited degree programs from the Hungarian capital of Budapest to Austria because Hungary’s government refused to sign an agreement allowing it to stay.

According to a transcript of his speech, Soros said Central European University felt “morally obligated” to keep a presence in Hungary to support academic freedom in the country.

He added that the new Open Society University Network established together with U.S.-based Bard College will be open to like-minded institutions globally.