At the invitation of Rector Dr. József Pálfi, Sietske Poepjes, Deputy Governor of the Province of Friesland in the Netherlands, accompanied by political advisor Ypie Boersma, visited our university and addressed our academic year opening ceremony.
Our university's relations with the distinguished Frisian guest began in 2018, when Deputy Governor Sietske Poepjes also held the position of president of the Network Promoting Linguistic Diversity. At that time, the PCU was admitted - the first from the Central-Eastern European region - to the representative organization of European linguistic minorities, which includes regional governments, associations, and universities.
In recent years, despite the restrictions of the pandemic period, we have tried to make the most of the opportunities arising from our associate membership. Among other achievements, we participated in a joint project with our partners representing European minority communities - including the Frisian community in the Netherlands – with the aim to introduce and raise awareness of linguistic minority rights among high school and university students.
The current visit can therefore be considered as another step in a relationship-building process, which offered an opportunity to review the path taken so far and to outline future courses of action. During the meetings, the expansion of inter-university partnership relations, the initiation of joint projects in the field of linguistic minority rights and inter-culturalism, teacher and student exchange programs, and the provision of practical training opportunities for our students at Western European universities were discussed as concrete opportunities.
Our guests expressed their appreciation for the mission undertaken by PCU and its consequent implementation, as well as their committed intention to provide support in the realization of our university development goals through the means available to them.
