Students arriving from our partner universities in Shanghai spent four month in Szeged studying courses in English offered by the Faculty of Law. Our hope is that – besides new competences, experiences and friendships – they will also bring home with themselves a good reputation for the University of Szeged.

The third semester of the Gateway Hungarian-Chinese Exchange Program started in February 2014 with the arrival of 11 exchange students from two Shanghai universities (Shanghai International Studies University and Shanghai University of Political Science and Law). The exchange students studies courses in English related to legal and political studies and economics offered by the Faculty of Law.

The Chinese students – sophomores and juniors in bachelor programs on law and political science at their respective universities – finished their studies with exceptionally good results and could proudly claim their diplomas and certificates during the closing ceremony on 11 June 2014.

The diplomas were presented by Prof. Dr. József Hajdú, Dean of the Faculty of Law assisted by Ms Lívia Szentmártoni and Dr. Xuemei Zhang, Directors of the Confucius Institute at the University of Szeged as well as Mr Dávid Barkóczy, special advisor to the Rector on Chinese affairs. Professors and student helpers active in the program also participated in the ceremony.

Photo: Aurel Ivanyi

In his closing speech Prof. Dr. József Hajdú emphasised the importance of personal experiences gained by the students during their four-month stay in Hungary. On behalf of the students, Ms Boxin Zhang, student of the Shanghai International Studies University, said goodbye to the teachers and the university in a very emotional speech testifying that all the exchange students had grown attached to the city of Szeged and had become deeply connected to Hungarians.

The students have spent a very active period in Hungary. Besides preparing for and attending courses in the framework of the exchange program they travelled to Budapest – visiting the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court – and Pécs, and managed to travel all around Europe in the spring break.

The success of the Gateway Hungarian-Chinese Exchange Program is highlighted by the constant increase in the number of students applying for admission to the program: the autumn semester in 2014 will begin with more than 20 Chinese students.