Central European University

Central European University (CEU; German: Zentraleuropäische Universität; Hungarian: Közép-európai Egyetem) is a privateresearch university in Vienna, Austria. The university offers graduate and undergraduate programs in the social sciences and humanities, which are in Austria and the United States. The university also has a non-degree research and civic engagement presence in Budapest. It is a member of The European University of Social Sciences and Europaeum.

CEU was founded in 1991 by Hungarian-American investor and 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 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 Revolutions of 1989 and concomitant democratisation. A central tenet of the university's mission is the promotion of Austrian-British philosopher Karl Popper's idea of open society, a result of its close association with the Open Society Foundations.