In an interview with Magyar Narancs in the autumn of 2003, Ferenc Miszlivetz, Director General of iASK, revived his ideas about the necessary integration of higher education and interdisciplinary research: 
“After the change of regime, we stayed at universities for a long time to integrate the research institute and the educational base of the universities. I have been employed in so-called multi- and interdisciplinary research since the early 1980s. We began our research at the University of Economics along the lines of critical theories that have sprung up in the field of history, economics and sociology, entitled “Development Studies”. , Mihály Vajda, András Gerő, András Bródy, László Bruszt – and I figured out that we would create an institute with such a profile, the European Research Center.”