Balázs Hankó visited Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Monday.Continue reading
Minister of Culture and Innovation Balázs Hankó discussed joint university programs and their expansion with the leaders of Harvard and Yale Universities on Tuesday, the second day of his official visit to the United States.
The minister told MTI that following Monday’s meeting, which focused on the innovation activities of the flagship universities in Boston, he discussed on Tuesday the expansion of the existing joint training program between Harvard University and Semmelweis University.
He reported that
an agreement had been reached with David H. Roberts, inaugural Harvard Medical School Dean for External Education, to allow more students to participate in the joint training of the Hungarian and U.S. universities.
The expansion of cooperation will also include Semmelweis University becoming a priority Central European center of Harvard University, through which students from neighboring countries and even from distant European Union member states could participate in the Hungarian-American joint training programs.
During the meeting, Balázs Hankó presented the elements of the restructured Hungarian higher education system, as well as the Pannonia Scholarship Program and the HU-rizont Research Program, which could open up further opportunities for cooperation, especially in summer university courses.
On Tuesday, the ministerial delegation also visited Yale University in Connecticut, where educational relations were at the center of the discussions. Hankó said he had talks with two heads of international relations at the long-established U.S. university in New Haven, including Alexander Rosas, dean for international and summer university programs. The minister informed them that of the 3,000 or so students who have participated in the Pannonia Scholarship Program, 62 have so far come to the United States.
As a result of the meeting, it was agreed to expand the Hungarian scholarship program to include summer university courses, which will allow Hungarian students to attend summer courses at Yale and for students from the U.S. institution to attend courses at Hungarian universities.
Hankó also gave a speech at an event organized by the Yale European Graduate Student Society, and presented Hungarian family policy alongside the country’s higher education and innovation, and spoke about the cultural roots of Hungary’s history and the reasons for the the government’s commitment to sovereignty.
The minister’s tour in the U.S. concludes on Wednesday, at Columbia University in New York. In his Facebook post about the visit at Colombia University, he wrote: “Today I had the chance to talk again with some great students who told me about their studies and what motivates them. They were curious about higher education in Hungary, so I was proud to tell them about our renewed, merit-based institutions and how we have nearly 80% of our students on public scholarships.”
Via MTI, Featured image: Wikipedia