During her visit to the Győr campus on 15 May, Her Excellency Eva Dvořáková, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Hungary, learned about Széchenyi István University’s educational and research activities, internationalisation efforts, and potential areas of cooperation. The Ambassador expressed her appreciation for the institution’s strategy and development.

Széchenyi István University is home to around one thousand international students, and its lecturers and researchers are actively involved in international projects and research networks. Strengthening international relations is therefore of strategic importance to the institution, and the visit of Czech Ambassador Eva Dvořáková served this very purpose.

Participants in the meeting included: József Kepli, Head of the Centre for International Programmes and Alumni at Széchenyi University; Pavla Kačenová, First Secretary at the Czech Embassy; Tibor Opěla, Consul of the Czech Embassy; Her Excellency Eva Dvořáková, Ambassador of the Czech Republic; Dr Eszter Lukács, Vice President for International Affairs and Strategic Relations of the University; Professor Dr Péter Smuk, Dean of the Deák Ferenc Faculty of Law and Political Sciences; Dr Gábor Hulkó, Associate Professor of the Faculty; and Gábor Hancz, Head of Communications at the University (Photo: András Adorján)

The achievements and plans of the university were presented to the three-member delegation by Dr Eszter Lukács, Vice President for International Affairs and Strategic Relations. She highlighted that the institution launched its internationalisation strategy in 2018, which has since brought significant success. “Out of our more than 14,000 students, approximately one thousand now come from nearly eighty countries around the world. We offer a quarter of our roughly two hundred degree programmes in English, which is particularly attractive to international students,” she noted. She added that the University maintains cooperation with seven Czech institutions, covering student and faculty exchange programmes as well as research partnerships. Under the Pannonia Scholarship Programme, 70 students spent time in the Czech Republic during the current academic semester.

The Vice President also underlined that the University is proud to be featured in both the Quacquarelli Symonds and Times Higher Education world university rankings. This recognition is especially valuable considering that out of around 24,000 universities worldwide, only about 2,000 are listed in these rankings. Dr Lukács also explained that the University’s nine faculties and four doctoral schools enable interdisciplinary research that is closely aligned with the automotive industry, sustainability, telecommunications, health technologies, and agriculture. She noted that preparations are currently underway for the second phase of the Győr Innovation Park, in which the university would welcome the opportunity to establish research, development, and innovation collaborations with Czech companies.

During the meeting, Ambassador Eva Dvořáková spoke highly of Széchenyi István University’s modern strategy, operations, and development. She remarked that the campus model and service portfolio of the institution – “a city within a city” – reminded her of the University of Texas, where she had studied for a time. She also offered her support in developing partnerships with further Czech universities and research centres.

The Ambassador drew attention to a high-tech project involving Czech and Hungarian participation, commonly referred to in the press as the “super laser”: the ELI (Extreme Light Infrastructure), a globally significant technological development initiative. She emphasised that there are still opportunities for institutions to join this project as partners.