A friend in need is a friend indeed" – the well-known saying was quoted by Zoltán Németh, president of the Győr-Moson-Sopron County Council, at a press conference at Széchenyi István University, where he handed over the masks donated by the Henan Education Office to Dr Péter Földesi, the Rector and Dr Eszter Lukács, Vice-Rector for Educational Affairs. The politician explained that a co-operation agreement was signed with the Chinese province of Hubei in 2014, but since then close ties have also been established with the neighbouring province of Henan, population around 110 million, thanks to the former governor of Hubei, Wang Guosheng, now having a leadership position in Henan. In recent years, Chinese delegations have visited the county several times, including paying visits to Széchenyi István University. Zoltán Németh added that as a result of the excellent relationship, the Henan Education Office has sent them a donation of ten thousand masks, one part of which will be used for the care of the elderly in Mosonmagyaróvár and Kapuvár and for the protection of care workers at the Ujvári János Reformed Church Care Home in Mezőörs, with the other part being given to the University. “This protective equipment allows potential coronavirus carriers not to pass on the infection to others,” he stressed.

Dr Péter Földesi, Dr Eszter Lukács and Németh Zoltán

The Rector emphasized that when only a small amount of something is available in the world, such as currently masks, it is a noble gesture for someone to make a donation of it. The head of the university detailed that out of the total of 6,300 masks, 2,000 were being provided for students taking their final examinations, 500 for members of the final examination committees, 1,500 for colleagues working in administration and operations, 1,600 for the international students and 700 for staff members of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences in Mosonmagyaróvár. "We consider it important for the university community to feel that we pay attention to virus control regulations and do everything we can to protect the health of our students and staff," said Dr Péter Földesi. 

Dr Eszter Lukács initially thanked the Győr-Moson-Sopron County Municipality, Zoltán Németh, the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Hungary, the leadership of Henan Province, and the Henan Education Office for their generous donation. The Vice-Rector also reported on Széchenyi István University's relations with China. She recounted that since January 2018, 21 Chinese delegations had been received and framework cooperation agreements concluded with 15 Chinese universities. One of the priorities of the institution’s strategy is internationalization, and to this end, they are also working to build a Chinese student community with the help of seven groups of agents in China. She noted that an important consideration for Chinese students and their parents, when choosing a foreign university, is which institutions feature on the rankings lists of the two major global university rankings organizations. In this respect, Széchenyi University is already in a good position, as it has been on the QS list since 2019, and has recently been included in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which assesses the world’s higher education institutions on the basis of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The University of Győr has been classified among the top two hundred in the world in the category "Decent work and economic growth", which focusses on fair job creation, promoting development-oriented policies that support entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encouraging the creation and growth of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.