The internationalization leaders of Western Carolina University, East Tennessee State University, the University of Louisville, the University of Tennessee Knoxville and Appalachian State University, who were invited to the University of Debrecen by Fulbright Hungary, sought cooperation opportunities in the fields of rural development, agricultural sciences, ethnography and sociology.
The Hungarian-American Fulbright Committee supports the development and continuous strengthening of relations between the universities of the two countries. The aim of the visit was to get acquainted with the courses taught in English, research areas and student composition of the University of Debrecen, and to develop joint research and educational and exchange programs for students and instructors. Exchanges for the instructors and researchers will be supported by the Fulbright Scholarship Program, while opportunities for mobilities for the students of Debrecen University will be provided by the Pannonia Scholarship Program, which will start on July.
The American Delegation was welcomed by the Vice Rector for Education Elek Bartha on behalf of the University’s leadership in the Main Building. At 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 of the Faculty of Humanities as well as the Faculty of Childcare 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 on sociological research, the teaching of American culture and literature, the integration of disadvantaged students, the support of first- generation intellectuals, and the work of the Lippai Balázs Roma College for Advanced Studies, among others.
Following the meeting in the Main Building, the American university leaders visited the Böszörményi Street Campus to learn about the agricultural and rural development educational and research programs of the Faculty of Economics and Business, and the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management. The visit ended with a mead tasting where Valter Pfliegler (Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Microbiology), a former Fulbright (Harvard University) lecturer, offered the guests a variety of mead produced in connection with a scientific project on the use of different yeasts.