Széchenyi István University and the Xuzhou University of Technology plan to establish cooperation in the fields of education, research and culture. The representatives of the two institutions have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enter into a partnership.

SZE attaches great importance to international relations, and within this framework it is seeking to establish close cooperation with Asian countries, from which a significant number of young people have come to the Győr campus in recent years. The recent visit of the delegation from Xuzhou University of Technology served to deepen a new relationship.

Representatives of Széchenyi István University and Xuzhou University of Technology on the Győr campus (Photo: András Adorján)

Zhang Nong, President of the Chinese institute, presented Xuzhou, a city with a rich historical and cultural heritage and a population of around 10 million, as a city with an economy based on equipment manufacturing, food, energy, logistics and tourism. He explained that their multidisciplinary university has more than 22,000 students and around 1,800 faculty and staff. It has partnerships with 39 universities abroad, including in the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia and South Korea. The President added that they are committed to developing joint projects with Széchenyi István University in areas such as IT, civil engineering, logistics engineering, environmental engineering and artificial intelligence. "There is even more potential for cooperation between the two universities based on Chinese investment in Hungary and the good relations between the two countries," he said. He stressed that cooperation could include exchanges of teachers and students, joint research and cultural programmes.

Dr Eszter Lukács, Vice-President for International Affairs and Strategic Relations, introduced our University to the guests. She said that the city, which is liveable and one of the safest in Europe, is located close to Budapest, Vienna and Bratislava. She underlined that the institution, which has a long tradition and considerable knowledge in the fields of technology and engineering, is present in Győr, Mosonmagyaróvár, Budapest and Zalaegerszeg, and that in the latter city, the Széchenyi University Group owns one of the world's most modern automotive test tracks, ZalaZone. Among the important figures, she mentioned that the 14,000 students now come from almost 80 countries around the world, and the number of English-taught courses exceeds 40. The two largest international higher education ranking organizations, Quacquarelli Symonds and Times Higher Education, feature the university on a total of seven rankings. The university offers dual degree programs with five foreign partners, including a programme in Civil Engineering with Jiaxing University in China. Dr Eszter Lukács also spoke of the institution's close links with the economy, working with a total of 3,000 companies, including the Chinese company Huawei.

Dr Zoltán Horváth, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Informatics and Electrical Engineering, expressed his opinion that there are many opportunities for cooperation in the field of scientific research. He spoke in detail about the English-taught Master's programme in Computer Science, which also prepares students for international research. This course involves cooperation with German, French and Greek universities.

Dr Gábor Dogossy, Dean of the Audi Hungaria Faculty of Vehicle Engineering and Dr Péter Németh, Associate Professor of the Department of Logistics and Transport, presented the English-taught logistics engineer programme. "We have the largest packaging and environmental testing laboratory in Central Europe, so our students also gain the highest level of knowledge in the field of testing," he said.

During the visit, Dr Eszter Lukács and Mr Zhang Nong signed a Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of the two universities, which could form the basis for closer relations.

Zhang Nong, President of the Xuzhou Technical University and Dr Eszter Lukács, Vice-President for International Affairs and Strategic Relations of Széchenyi István University signed the Memorandum of Understanding (Photo: András Adorján)