Central European University (Budapest)

Central European University (CEU; German: Zentraleuropäische Universität, Hungarian: Közép-európai Egyetem) is a private research university with a campus in Vienna and a non-degree, research and civic engagement presence in Budapest. The university offers graduate and undergraduate programs in the social sciences and humanities, which are accredited in Austria and the United States. CEU was founded in 1991 by hedge fund manager, political activist, and billionaire philanthropist George Soros, who provided it with a $250 million endowment in 2001, making the university one of the wealthiest in Europe, especially on a per-student basis. The university is considered academically elite and prestigious. The university was founded in Central Europe because of a perceived need for an independent and international university for the region, in light of the fall of the Socialist Bloc and concomitant democratisation. A central tenet of the university's mission is the promotion of open societies, a result of its close association with the Open Society Foundations. It is a member of The European University of Social Sciences and Europaeum.