It’s official: in 2025 Central European University (CEU) will start operating on the Otto Wagner site at Steinhof, in Vienna's 14th municipal district.
CEU’s Rector and President Michael Ignatieff signed the contract with the City of Vienna at a special ceremony held in Wiener Rathaus, the Vienna City Hall.
“With this signing, CEU is making Vienna its permanent home and committing ourselves to be responsible partners with the community in the Steinhof area,” noted Michael Ignatieff. “CEU thanks Vienna for welcoming us with open arms.”
According to Liviu Matei, Provost and Vice-Rector, the occasion represented “our shared ambition to work together to ensure the Otto Wagner site, a place of remarkable architectural and natural beauty—and with a complex history—becomes internationally renowned as a scientific and cultural powerhouse.”
The Provost added that the agreement “marks the official beginning of a longstanding partnership between City of Vienna and Central European University, one that is so clearly of mutual benefit for CEU and the City.
Peter Hanke, City Councillor for Economic and Financial Affairs of the City of Vienna, remarked that the establishment of CEU in Vienna “sends an important economic signal, as the realisation of this University campus by 2025 will create an added economic value within the city in the next few years. Hence, it will enhance the image of Vienna as a modern, cosmopolitan, international city".
CEU is committed to working with the local community to ensure that the grounds will continue to be accessible to the public. In light of the site’s dark history, the university will consult with all stakeholders to ensure that the site is appropriately commemorated.
Budapest will remain a campus site for the university, serving as home for the Democracy Institute, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives and other research and teaching functions of the university.
