Our Africa Relations Continue to Grow

A delegation from the Nigerian National Defence College has arrived in Hungary for a weeklong study tour organised by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology in cooperation with the Nigerian Embassy in Budapest. As part of this visit, the African delegation arrived on 21 June at the University of Pécs.

István Tarrósy, Director of the International Centre of UP said, "Our university has an extensive network of lively institutional relations with Africa, which is also reflected in the growing number of young people from the African continent studying here. The Africa Research Centre has been operating at UP since 2009, and its activities are very multidimensional - these are also contributing factors for the visit of this delegation at our university." - said the Director.

Ambassador of Nigeria, Her Exc. Dr. Modupe Enitan Irele, visited Pécs for the first time since her appointment in May and expressed her delight that students from the African country are gaining positive experiences and integrating well at the university. As mentioned in the meeting at Hungary's first university, the visit to Pécs was also encouraged by the broad research portfolio of UP and the presence of Magnus Aircraft, a company that has a number of cooperation projects in Africa.

The main objective of the study tour has been to familiarise the delegation members with Hungarian digital technologies and solutions, as well as national development concepts. On behalf of UP, the delegation was welcomed by József Betlehem, Vice-Rector for General Affairs, Connections and Strategic Affairs and István Tarrósy, Director of the International Centre. Four representatives of the more than 90 Nigerian students of UP shared their experiences in a few words at the meeting. They said that they love studying here because the city is beautiful and student-friendly. The programme in Pécs included a visit to the main sights of the Baranya county seat and a factory visit to Magnus Aircraft Zrt.

István Tarrósy highlighted that "The visit may bring further new, research, possibly research development contacts to Pécs, and will certainly further strengthen the African relations of Pécs, also with regard to one of our new partner institutions in Nigeria. This is the Lagos State University, with which we are launching exchange programmes in the Erasmus+ international credit mobility programme." - added the Director.