The leaders responsible for internationalization from Western Carolina University, East Tennessee State University, the University of Louisville, the University of Tennessee Knoxville and Appalachian State University, who came to the University of Debrecen within the framework of Fulbright Hungary, were mainly looking for cooperation in the fields of rural development, agricultural sciences, ethnography and sociology.
The Hungarian-American Fulbright Commission supports the development and continuous strengthening of relations between universities in the two countries. The aim of the visit was to learn about the University of Debrecen's English-language courses, research areas and student composition, and later to develop joint research, educational programmes and student-teacher exchange programmes. Teacher-researcher exchanges are supported by the Fulbright Scholarship Programme, while student visits from Debrecen can be funded by the Pannonia Scholarship Programme, which will start in July.
The American delegation was welcomed by Elek Bartha, Vice Rector for Education, on behalf of the University's administration. During the meeting, the American guests were introduced in detail to the history of the University of Debrecen, its training and research portfolio, its ranking achievements, its international network and its industrial partner network.
At the meeting, experts from the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Childhood Education and Special Education gave a comprehensive overview of the research and training directions of the Institute of Political Science and Sociology, the Institute of English and American Studies and the Department of Social Sciences. They touched upon sociological research, the teaching of American culture and literature, the integration of disadvantaged students, the support of first-generation intellectuals, the work of the Balázs Lippai Roma College, among others.
Following the meeting in the Main Building, the American university leaders visited the Böszörményi Road campus to learn about the education and research programmes of the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Agriculture, Food Science and Environmental Management related to agricultural and rural development. The visit was concluded with a mead tasting, where Valter Pfliegler (Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Science and Technology), a former Fulbright Scholar (Harvard University), offered the guests a variety of mead produced in the framework of his student's scientific project on the use of different yeasts.
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