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Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary is a young institution with a long tradition. The university was established in its present form in 1993 however its legal predecessors date back to 1839 and 1855. It is founded on the traditions of Reformed education, yet the university is open to professional innovation. Our nearly 8000 students can conduct their studies at four faculties which are the following: Faculty of Law, Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Theology and Faculty of Teacher Training. The legal predecessor of our University was the Reformed Theological Academy of Budapest, founded in 1855 and granted University status by the Hungarian Parliament in 1990. In 1993 the General Assembly of the Reformed Church in Hungary took the decision to establish a university spanning a wide range of faculties, and this decision was approved later in the year on 21st September by the Parliament of the Republic of Hungary. Through the creation of Károli Gáspár University, the Reformed Church in Hungary has fulfilled the aims of its forefathers. Our University, in the spirit of the universitas scientiarum, aims to raise the status of not solely the Church, but also the nation, through its educational, teaching and academic work. ‘Without knowledge, my people will perish!’ – such was the cry of the Old Testament prophets and the Reformers in their sermons. It is impossible to imagine the effect that the legions of wandering university scholars with reformed beliefs, who made their way to Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Scotland and later North America, have had on the Reformed Church and also on Hungarian culture. The spirit of Hungarian Protestantism is embodied in such individuals as Gáspár Károli, Gáspár Heltai, Albert Szenczi Molnar, Bálint Kocsi Csergő, János Apáczai Csere, Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, the Bolyais, and more recently, László Ravasz, István Bibó, Sándor Joo, and Endre Gyökössy, amongst others. Protestant schools and universities have, through the ages, paved the way for Reformed and Hungarian culture. They will continue to do so in the future. The commitment of Károli Gáspár University is to carry on the distinguished traditions of the Reformed Colleges of Sárospatak, Pápa, Debrecen, Kolozsvár and Nagyenyed. In addition to the education of ministers of religion, for the purposes of academic research, training for the position of lecturer and for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and the awarding of degrees, its aims and objectives are to provide university – and college – level basic education in several fields and branches of scholarship, and to be capable of carrying out academic research, in accordance with the aforementioned traditions and in the spirit of the Reformation. In the spirit of the Biblical Word, the mission of the University is to educate young people consciously claiming the morals and spiritual values of Christianity, and to train professionals with up-to-date knowledge for the good of the nation, to serve Hungarians living in Hungary and outside our borders alike, first of all the reformed system of institutions and the reformed communities. Furthermore, the mission of the University is to encourage the academic and social cooperation of the protestant communities in Europe through the help of a centre in Hungary, and to increase the participation of the members of the Hungarian Reformed community in the intellectual and academic life. Through all this, the University contributes to the fulfilment of the Christian social mission of the Hungarian Reformed Church. Our university is a young and dynamic institution with rapidly developing international relations. It is a strategic aim of Károli University to further deepen and widen our network of international cooperation. Today, the university maintains bilateral contacts and cooperation agreements with almost 130 institutions of higher education from 35 countries in the world. Our partners are mostly European but we also have cooperation agreements with universities in Colombia, Japan, Korea and the USA. Cooperation agreements cover student and teacher exchange schemes, joint research and publication, as well as organising and providing courses for students. Within Europe, the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union plays a significant role in the cross-border cooperation while the university is also a member of the regional CEEPUS mobility programme. It also joined the new International Credit Mobility programme of the European Union, receiving exchange students from overseas universities. Furthermore, in the framework of the Stipendium Hungaricum programme launched by the Government of Hungary, thousands of students from all around the world can apply to Hungarian higher education institutions, including Károli Gáspár University as well. As a Christian university, Károli University actively seeks contact and cooperation with other Christian institutions of higher education. As a result, we have joined the IAPCHE (International Association for the Promotion of Christian Higher Education) and the CCCU (Council for Christian Colleges and Universities) as an international affiliate. We are also a member of the Refo500 international network that prepares for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. On the 18th of September Rector Prof. Dr. Péter Balla – among representatives of other universities – in the framework of a signing ceremony has formally signed the Magna Charta Universitatum in Bologna. Thus Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary has joined the international higher-educational organisation, counting almost 800 members in more than 80 countries. View full university