At the end of September, a delegation from Debrecen, representing Zoltán Szilvássy, Rector of UD, led by Róbert Keményfi, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, accompanied by Pál Csontos, Hungarian Director of the Confucius Institute of DE BTK and Erik László Kovács, Secretary of the Institute, spent a number of eventful days in China.
Prior to celebrating the grand jubilee of TFSU, the organization called Confucius Institutes Partnership Association (CIPA) was officially established with the participation of the University of Debrecen, Hebei University of Chinese Medicine (China), Jorge Tadeo Lozano University (Colombia), Omar Bongo University (Gabon), Soonchunhyang University (South Korea), Tianjin Foreign Studies University (China), The Federal University of Goias (Brazil) and the University of Lisbon (Portugal). This alliance will function as a minor sub-network of the World Network of Confucius Institutes to promote mutual cooperation and development.
The delegation from UD was officially received by Li Yingying, the current President of TFSU, to whom Róbert Keményfi expressed his gratitude for her support of the establishment and operation of a Confucius Institute in Debrecen. Our institute will soon celebrate the fifth anniversary of its foundation, and the head of the UD delegation handed over an invitation to the President of Tianjin Foreign Studies University, who then promised to pay a visit to the institute in Debrecen.
It was at the ceremony held on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the foundation of Tianjin Foreign Studies University that Dean Róbert Keményfi presented the University of Debrecen's award for the outstanding support of the establishment of UD’s Confucius Institute to Professor Chen Fachun, former, and now retired, President of TFSU.
During their stay in Tianjin, the members of the UD delegation also had the opportunity to visit the premises of the Hungarian Department of TFSU, where Department Head Ma Xiaoxuan (Viki, in Hungarian) and Deputy Head of the Department Hu Miao (whose Hungarian name is Alma) showed around the delegation members and made arrangements for them to meet the students majoring in Hungarian there.
The complex joint program between TFSU and UD was originally approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education way back in 2016 and the actual teaching of Hungarian started in Tianjin in September 2017. The number of students who have been enrolled so far as Hungarian majors is now close to 60, 15 of whom are currently first-year students. At present, eight of the Chinese students participating in the program are taking courses at the University of Debrecen.
Press Centre – BZs
