Central European University

Central European University is an institution of advanced research and teaching, dedicated to socially and morally responsible intellectual inquiry. Having launched a new undergraduate offer in 2020, CEU’s distinctive educational program builds on the research tradition of the great American universities; on the most valuable Central European intellectual traditions; on the international diversity of its faculty and students; on its commitment to social service; and on its own history of academic and policy achievements in transforming the closed communist inheritance. George Soros founded CEU after the fall of the iron curtain during a time of great optimism and hope for the future.
CEU empowers students from around the world and challenge them to think critically and create new knowledge with the power to transform our world. Today, as societies are radically tested, we fulfill this purpose with urgency. With a global pandemic stoking fear and exclusion, our role to foster a passion for knowledge — the distinguishing feature of an open society — is vital to countering these forces.

Mission

CEU is committed to promoting the values of open society and self-reflective critical thinking. It aims at excellence in the mastery of established knowledge, courage to pursue the creation of new knowledge in the humanities, the social sciences, law and management, and engagement in promoting applications for each, in particular through their policy implications. CEU is a new model for international education, a center for the study of contemporary economic, social and political challenges, and a source of support for building open and democratic societies that respect human rights and human dignity.
CEU’s mission—to advance and build open and democratic societies that respect human rights—draws students from more than 100 countries and across five continents. Often the first in their families to pursue a graduate education, our students come to CEU to study law, humanities, social sciences, public policy, and management. This diverse group of exceptional students share a commonly held desire: to make a difference after graduation in their respective countries.