The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) is a relatively “young” university. It was founded in 1994 and, currently, it has only three faculties and two academies. Regarding its academic achievements however, it is already a leading publicly funded tertiary educational institution in the Asia Pacific region and beyond. For example, in the Education category of the most recently published QS rankings, it is ranked among the top ten institutions in the world.
While the delegation from Hong Kong, headed by President John Lee Chi-Ki, was welcomed by Vice Rector for General Affairs at the University of Debrecen (UD) Károly Pető, it was Okszána Kiszil, Head of the Coordination and Strategy Directorate of the Rector’s Office, who gave them a presentation about our institution’s history, its achievements in the fields of education and internationalization, as well as its network of relationships with industrial partners.
Following the initial contact based on previous research and educational collaborations in Asia, the Chinese guests had visited Debrecen for the first time this past January. It was the successful discussions held at that time that finally led to the acceptance and signing of the current agreement.
The agreement with the Education University of Hong Kong will facilitate collaboration primarily in the humanities (including education, linguistics and psychology) by covering the reception of visiting professors as well as research and publication opportunities. In the latter context, a jointly edited journal issue is already in preparation, produced through the cooperation of experts from both universities, together with other international authorities, on the topic of “shadow education.” Furthermore, thanks to the relevant scholarship opportunities, UD students will also be able to pursue their studies at EdUHK. This includes doctoral candidates, who would be enrolled at the partner institution under the umbrella of the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship program, even with dual supervision.
This agreement also provides opportunities to expand the scope of cooperation even further in the future. During the course of their discussions, the leaders of the two institutions agreed to broaden the range of partnership activities as soon as possible in order to include the fields of sports, economics, law and early childhood education. The choice of this last discipline is not incidental at all, since the Hong Kong university also includes the term “education” in its official name.
The delegation’s visit to the University of Debrecen continued at the Faculty of Humanities (BTK), where the guests sorted out the details of the collaboration with Deputy Dean for Strategy and Economy Péter Csatár and several representatives of the various departments of the faculty.
At this meeting, leading members of our Faculty of Humanities and the guests from Hong Kong exchanged their views on the joint research and publication projects already underway, the detailed schedule for psychology students to travel to Hong Kong during the summer of 2026, and a plenary lecture to be delivered by Director of the Institute of English and American Studies Balázs Venkovits, which he will be giving at the summer school of the Education University of Hong Kong.
Covering the topics of our university’s international network of connections as well as study and work opportunities abroad for students and faculty, the delegation from the Hong Kong university also held discussions with Orsolya Jánosy, Head of the International Office at the University of Debrecen.
The final stage of the delegation’s visit to our university included a tour of the Confucius Institute of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Debrecen, including an informal discussion of a variety of issues over a cup of tea.
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