Students and teachers have been blocking the premises for a month and several of the teachers have gone on strike.

They want to show their dissatisfaction with what they see as lost autonomy.

- Our university is facing an aggressive takeover, our independence has been damaged for the past two and a half months, says Áron Szentpéteri, teaching assistant and former student at SZFE, who is one of many who gathered outside the university.

New management is not allowed in

The new management of the school, appointed by the Orbán government, would begin its work in early October.

However, due to the ongoing blockade, they have not yet succeeded in entering the university campus. 

A number of teachers have already resigned in protest, several choose to go on strike.  

- We have tried to start talks, but now a strike is our only way out.

Restoring the university's independence is as important as salary issues, says Kata Csató, a teacher at the school and a director. 

"Want to own the university"

The conflict over the university's autonomy began with a government decision that the university would have a new form of government as a foundation.   

- By turning it into a foundation with a strong board containing party-loyal people, you can own the university in a different way than through a state structure, says Daniel Gustafsson, who is a translator into Hungarian, author and follows developments in the country.  

- Our university is the eighth in a row where such structural changes have taken place.

And more are waiting, says Áron Szentpéteri on site in Hungary.  

"Free cultural life seems scary"

The person who will lead the new board is Attila Vidnyánszky, a recognized but controversial director in Hungary, who has said she wants to see a patriotic and Christian foundation in education, according to the BBC.  

The new management of the university believes that there has been a one-sided left turn in the theater area and the school.

Daniel Gustafsson does not agree.

- I do not think so, personally.

But I understand that if you have this attitude to culture: that it is something that should have a special political message, then maybe the free cultural life seems scary in some way, says Daniel Gustafsson. 

 SVT has unsuccessfully sought the new management for the university.