New services, new communications system, new financing funds

What kind of new services are starting in September?  

Mental hygiene counselling for students already has existed at the Medical Faculty, on the basis of which – involving the Institute of Psychology of the Faculty of Humanities – a Student Counselling programme is starting up. It will ensure that all the international students will have someone to turn to in case they struggle with learning difficulties or psychological problems. 

The programme Legal Aid Clinic will be started by the initiative of the Faculty of Law, a kind of legal help and counselling. They will help with any kind of legal problems, such as those related to tenancy contracts, the studies and exams code, or even other affairs not related to the university. This is a much needed service that fills a gap, since youth from more and more cultures keep arriving, who may be unsure about their being here, and such services serve as a secure point for them.

The third programme launching in September is coordinated by the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Education and Regional Development, but the Faculty of Humanities also takes part in it. It is a cultural sensitization programme which can be taken by foreign students within the framework of campus credits. According to our plans the materials could be acquired via e-learning even before their arrival in the future, but if they are already here, they would receive a framework related to traditions and cultural heritage, contributing to intercultural dialogue and living together. If you think about it, the thematic of this course deals with one of the most important dimensions of internationalisation, which aims at understanding one another more successfully.

I would like to emphasise that concerning the improvement of services, the Directorate for Foreign Relations works in close cooperation with the Directorate of Education and the faculties. All the services above are provided by the Internationalisation Fund defined in the strategic internationalisation programme.  

What new training opportunities are available for international students? 

Our aim was to add some short-cycle programmes to the semester-based degree courses available in foreign languages. These are for example the Study Abroad programmes, the summer universities, trainings, study tours, and other non-semester based and not specifically degree-aimed courses, which, on the one hand, make the educational portfolio of the university more diverse, and they make UP more visible and attractive on the international scene. This development is heading forward very dynamically. Our so-called Summer Trimester programme started this year, and we have found a lot of partners by Study Abroad, from America to China, and these partners keep sending groups continually. There was a Chinese group visiting us recently, but we have also entered into an agreement with a Japanese and a Mexican group during this therm.

What new means is the Centre for International Relations planning to promote the courses offered by UP? 

The university is facing a great improvement regarding the communication of internationalisation: we are planning to introduce the globally widespread and applied online application system and marketing communication interface Dream Apply; we are starting to build up its environment this autumn. This programme enables those who are interested in taking courses in Hungarian higher education to find the offers of UP quickly and easily, to start the application process on this platform, while we also will be able to track what any given student is interested in and to communicate with them and with potential students. And if students register for a course, their data will be automatically moved to Neptun. I think this novelty will boost efficiency. Several Hungarian universities already use DreamApply, including Eötvös Lóránd University, the University of Debrecen and the Budapest Metropolitan University.  

How many foreign students are studying at UP, and how many are expected? 

The last number of active students was about 3700; and students from 105  countries have arrived in Pécs. The number of applications has increased due to Stipendium, intense building of relations by the faculties and centrally, and the more and more decisive exposure abroad; so many people apply for our programmes now, that we are trying to select the best ones. Concerning Stipendium, even 400 new students may arrive for the next year. I can see a realistic chance for the number of arriving foreign students to increase above 4,000 by the beginning of 2018.  

We are celebrating the 650^th anniversary of the establishment of the University of Pécs. The Centre for International Relations contributed with a grandiose series of events, International Spring. Will it be continued in some way?

Due to the anniversary year the Centre has a lot of extra tasks to do; among other things, the entire administration of the foreign guests of the September 1 gala – rectors or rectorial representatives from every continent are going to arrive to this event, and the leaders of the universities of our macro-region will honour us, too.  We are also organising the annual conference of the Compostela Group, and an American-Hungarian conference on healthcare and migration. We are very proud of the International Spring series, and it is no secret that we would like to organise it again next year, though in a compact, few-week-long form.   

UnivPécs International 2017 Autumn