The legal predecessor of the University was the Reformed Theological Academy of Budapest, founded in 1855 and granted University status by the Hungarian Parliament in 1900. In 1993 the General Assembly of the Hungarian Reformed Church took the decision to establish a multifaculty University, and this decision was approved later on in the year on 21st September by the Parliament of the Republic of Hungary. Through the creation of Károli Gáspár University, the Hungarian Reformed Church has fulfilled the aims of its forefathers. The University, in the spirit of the universitas scientiarium, aims to raise the status of not solely the Church, but also the nation, through its educational, teaching and academic work.