Chinese Students are Learning about our Cultural Heritage

18 students and 2 professors came to Pécs from the Shanghai Institute of Technology, China in order to learn about the rich European and Hungarian cultural heritage. The academic programme (lessons and field trips) of the summer university held from 15 – 29 July are organized by the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Education and Regional Development, while the complete organization of the event is the task of the Centre for International Relations. At the opening ceremony on 16 July professors, organizers and Chinese and Hungarian mentors have been introduced to the group of students.

At the opening ceremony, the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Education and Regional Development was represented by Dr. Iván Zádori, vice-dean of the faculty and Dr. Zsuzsa Koltai, one of the professors in the summer university programme. Dr. Gyöngyi Pozsgai welcomed the group from China on behalf of the Centre for International Relations and the whole university. After introducing the University of Pécs in a nutshell, she said: “one of our strategic aims is to increase the number of international students, and we would like to fill the whole summer with summer schools!” Chinese mentor students: Yang Zipei, Wei Xiaozhi, Chen Silin and Li Yu, who are studying at the University of Pécs gave short presentations about the city Pécs, the available cultural possibilities, sights and practical information.

During the two week summer university programme the Chinese students learn about Europe and Hungary from many different perspectives. They have lessons about history, art history, folklore and traditions are introduced as well as current economic and social challenges in the European Union.

In their leisure time, students have the opportunity to go sightseeing, they can study the cultural heritage of Pécs, they visit Orfű and Abaliget and they also go on a field trip to Budapest, Szentendre and Visegrád. A very rich selection of leisure activities is available to them, such as a quiz night about Hungary and Europe, and they also have the chance to meet the 35-member student group from Hangzhou Normal University, who are participants of another summer university programme at the University of Pécs.