UP to Coordinate Compostela Debate Academy

The Compostela Debate Tournament took place between 2-5 November. It was the first online interdisciplinary debate academy for students studying at the member universities of the Compostela Group of Universities and the University of Pécs.

The four-day online programme, coordinated by the Study Abroad and Summer University Office of the International Centre, included 25 students from 11 universities of 5 countries: Spain, the Czech Republic, Poland, Peru and Hungary.

The training started with lectures on the culture of debate and effective communication given by Prof. Dr. István Tarrósy, Director of the International Centre; Prof. Dr. Maurits Van Rooijen, former President of the Compostela Group of Universities; and Dr. Ádám Guld, lecturer at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Pécs. 

Afterwards, three internationally renowned trainers, Dr. Maja Nenadovic, Pater Trvtko and Sor Borna, introduced the participants to the world of debate culture and facilitated interactive sessions about the elements of argumentation, rhetoric and persuasion. The programme concluded with a debate competition, where participants studying law, pharmacy, computer sciences, English, Spanish and other majors competed in teams to demonstrate their debating skills. In addition to the academic programme, Hungarian mentor students organised social activities (Team Building Session, Intercultural Evening) online with the aim of creating a community for participants.

The University of Pécs has been an active member of the Compostela Group of Universities for many years. The aim is to organise the Compostela Debate Academy - the predecessor of which was the Pécs Debate Academy summer school - every year for students in the association. Depending on the pandemic situation, next year's event is planned to be held in-person.

The short-cycle international training programmes were launched in 2016 by the International Centre with the goal of increasing the number of short-term programmes at the University of Pécs each year.

The growing number of short-cycle international programmes (summer universities, winter universities, workshops, trainings) has made the University of Pécs a market leader in this field among Hungarian higher education institutions.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, these programmes have been delivered online. The University of Pécs was recently awarded the EAIE Award for Excellence in Internationalisation in 2021 for the innovative development of short-cycle programmes, which have played an important role in the implementation of the university’s internationalisation strategy since 2016.