Pécs is now officially a "Learning City"

The town of Pécs was awarded the UNESCO "Global Learning City Award" for the year of 2017, on which the international organization issued a notice on Thursday evening. Pécs, Hungary won this prestigious title for the first time.

UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization donated the Learning City Award to sixteen cities, which was won by a Hungarian town, namely Pécs, for the first time. An international jury chose the awarded towns among the candidates, where the development of education and lifelong learning is outstanding and “tangible.”

The communication published by the UNESCO points out in the justification for the award, that the city has created a platform that can facilitate and can significantly contribute to the further development of education and learning.

The mayor of Pécs, Zsolt Páva, in connection with the awarded prize said: “the history of Pécs, its culture and international appearance both indicate that it is a student city and this has been acknowledged by the UNESCO, which all citizens of Pécs can be proud of. The City and the University lists the Learning City – Region Forum initiative as a good example, which is also a partnership-based study innovation model. For the general public, a significant and visible manifestation of the above for the general public will be the so called Student Festival within the framework of Pécsi Napok.”  The mayor of the city added: “With the prize being awarded, the city of Pécs wishes to continue with the kind of community and city development, which indicates that, as a multiethnic settlement and home to a number of confessions it wishes to become and remain an attractive place for learning, and wishes to contribute to the progress of educational innovation, be it formal or extracurricular. The prize, we hope, will contribute to the development of the city and its surrounding areas, as well as to the successful application for the Green Capital Award.” 

József Bódis, Rector of the University of Pécs also pleased: “It is an honor and a joy for us to be awarded the Learning City Award right in the year when we celebrate the 650th Anniversary and Jubilee of the foundation of the University of Pécs. As far as I think, with the ever growing number of international students, the high-quality education and valuable degree the university can be a worthwhile foundation and base of this field and we do our best to set the bar even higher when we implement developments to the University within the framework of Modern Cities Program.” – stressed the Rector of the University.