BEYOND THE CLASSROOM: CEU Civic Engagement in Hungary

CEU is not just a campus, it is a community whose members are committed to contributing to  Budapest and to working with our neighbors in the city and beyond. Proudly Hungarian, CEU made its home in Budapest more than a quarter of a century ago and, key to our open society mission is engaging with others to improve our city, our country and our world.

This exhibition highlights three education-focused civic engagements projects that took place over the past academic year. Being an academic institution, education is key to us and our community, but we know access to quality education is not a given for all. This includes some isolated Roma communities here in Hungary as well as hundreds of refugees and asylum-seekers who have made this country their home. For a year and a half, CEU volunteers have been working directly with registered refugees and asylum-seekers in the OLIve program, or Open Learning Initiative. CEU volunteers are also engaging with high school students from the Ambedkar School in Miskolc, a city in northeast Hungary, who have a strong desire to learn English. Traditional schooling has failed many of these Roma students who regularly face discrimination and segregation. Education doesn't just happen within the walls of a school or the confines of a classroom. CEU's strong commitment to sustainability issues translates into many environmental programs led by our Sustainable CEU office, from a bike-sharing scheme to an edible garden that get volunteers up and moving in the outdoors. CEU has partnered with many organizations that share our ideals, including the nearby Gollner Maria Regionalis Waldorf High School.

All Podcasts can be accessed via the Civic CEU blog: https://civicceu.tumblr.com/

Do not miss to see how active CEU Community is! The exhibition can be visited in Lower Foyer between June 22 and September 22, 2017!