At the invitation of the Rector, Dr.József Pálfi, Vice President of the NPLD, Ms. Sabrina Rasom visited us, accompanied by Mr. Vicent Fenollar, Policy and Outreach Manager. Our guests also honored our academic year opening ceremony with their presence.
Partium Christian University (PCU) is the first partner in Eastern Europe and also the first Hungarian language partner of the Network Promoting Linguistic Diversity (NPLD). The partnership and the activities of the network were presented at PCU by representatives of the two institutions.
Partium Christian University became a member of the NPLD in May last year, and Zsolt Szilágyi, a member of the Board of the Pro Universitate Partium Foundation, conveyed to the university the invitation of the organization, said Vice Rector Gábor Flóra. Founded in 2008, the NPLD is committed to promoting linguistic diversity.
Raising the prestige of minority languages is important not only in family life but also in the economic and social arena, said Ms. Sabrina Rasom, NPLD Vice President. In 2016, the organization relocated its headquarters from Cardiff to Brussels to bring it even more into the eyes of the European Union institutions. The network includes regional governments, associations, universities. The latter are also important because they represent a link between communities and science, said the Vice President.
The network runs various projects, one of which is joined by Partium Christian University. Within this project, school activities are organized to provide students with information concerning the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML). Activities include, for example, making a short, two-minute video, where students tell what their mother tongue means to them - these videos allow students to participate in an exchange program. In addition to PCU, University of Udine and the Network of Catalan Language Universities (Xarxa Vives d'UniversitatsVives Universities Network) are involved in the project, which also plans to develop a university curriculum to address minority language issues, said Vice Rector Gábor Flóra.
Piroska János
Source: Bihari Napló, 8th of October 2019.
The speech of NPLD Vice President at our opening ceremony of the academic year can be read by clicking on the link below:
