During a wide-ranging visit of Spain, the Széchenyi István University and the Hungarian General Consul in Barcelona made a brief stop on 6 May at the URV and the city of Tarragona to establish future modes of collaboration between both institutions

The Hungarian delegation consisted of the Rector of the SZE-Györ, Dr. Péter Földesi, and 5 other members of the university, including the director of the students and international cooperation centre, the director of strategy, and the head of the Foundation. Together they were met by the URV’s Vice-Rector for Internationalisation, Dr Mar Gutiérrez-Colón, and the Vice-Rector for Scientific and Research Policy, Dr Josep Manel Ricart, who explained to them how the URV operates in the region and described the possible forms of collaboration for those institutions interested in becoming partners with the URV.

The URV’s interest in collaborating with the SZE-Györ is due to the latter’s history as a technical university offering courses in telecommunications and transport and its very close links with companies operating in its region such as Audi, Philips o Nokia. Its students often have a job to go to even before they finish their degrees.

However, the SZE is not a prominent research institution and there is little mobility among its students or staff, which meant that one of the most important subjects under discussion were the quality of the URV’s doctoral programmes and the numbers of international students studying on them.

During the meeting, the rector of the SZE-Györ stated his intention to sign a student mobility agreement and mentioned the possibility of promoting mobility among research staff.

He was also interested in the URV’s Strategic Internationalisation Plan and Pla Dang (Plan for Teaching in English), given that one of his primary objectives is to increase the numbers of foreign students.

In addition, the General Consul, Barnabás Kovaks, who had helped set up the meeting and was accompanied by two more representatives from the consulate, congratulated the URV on the organisation of the visit and said that he would be sending more delegations to promote international mobility in Hungary.