We present the international activities, mobility and scholarship programs of Pázmány Péter Catholic University in a two-part interview series. In the first part, Ft. Dr. Krisztián Vincze, Vice-Rector for Foreign Affairs and Scientific Management, talks about the university's foreign affairs activities, while in the second part, Dr. Bence Ákos Tamássy, Head of the Central Office for Foreign Affairs, presents the mobility programs, institutional and other international cooperations and activities of our University.
How do the internationalization activities of Catholic universities contribute to the life, mission and tasks of the Catholic Church?
In 1990, Pope Saint John Paul II issued his apostolic instruction on Catholic universities, entitled Ex corde Ecclesiae. This document sets out the fundamental identity of Catholic universities, outlines their objectives and discusses the role of universities in the relationship between the Church and society, also addressing the importance and nature of university pastoral care. Several points in this document emphasize the international and internationalization activities of Catholic universities. The complex problems are the starting point, affecting many dimensions of human life and society, to the solution of which, Catholic universities contribute also through international cooperation (cf. Ex corde Ecclesiae, 35).
The efficiency of an institution and its achievements in education and research are enhanced by cooperation that is expressed in international contexts, surrounded and supported by the activities of partner universities. Ex corde Ecclesiae states that Catholic universities, as institutions born from the “heart of the Church”, have a responsibility for integrating knowledge from different disciplines that are active in the search for truth, and for keeping in mind the dialogue between faith and reason, and the ethical aspects of knowledge and theological perspectives. The existing international networks of PPKE, in which collaborations with other universities, joint projects, educational and research cooperations take place, are an indispensable forum for us to perform these responsible tasks.
What is the basis for PPKE's internationalization activities?
PPKE has two documents, in the light of which internationalization processes are founded. The document “The mission of the university in the field of internationalization” formulates guidelines, designates priority cooperation regions, and records the most important university alliances and partnerships. The other document is the related Internationalization Plan, which sets out the strategic goals, relevant activities, their participants and their responsibilities, as well as the feedback and indicator measurement processes over a specific time horizon. Based these, the direction and the framework of the university's internationalization processes are determined.
The two documents mentioned above, which were adopted by the University Council in 2023, provide the framework for all activities. We have 4 different faculties, the Canon Law Postgraduate Institute and there is also the Saint John Paul II Pope Research Center – as a result, the activities are very diverse, but these documents have created a central guideline at the management level, applicable to the entire university. Our goal in creating them was to unite the faculties and have a common vision of our foreign affairs activities.
What kind of cooperation does the university have with foreign Catholic organizations and university associations?
Pázmány Péter Catholic University is a member of several international organizations. One of the most important of them is FUCE, the Federation of European Catholic Universities, which was established in 1991 with the conviction that it would network Catholic universities in Europe and currently has more than 50 members. A General Assembly is held annually, at which PPKE is also represented. Our university is also a member of the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU), which aims to strengthen ties between Catholic universities, represent institutions, and maintain relations with other international organizations. The organization also conducts research and coordinates cooperation between Catholic universities. IFCU currently has more than 226 Catholic higher education institutions as members. Our university is also an active participant in the Catholic Universities Partnership (CUP). This cooperation was established at the initiative of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at the University of Notre Dame in the United States, and its main focus is the development of Catholic higher education and civil society in post-communist Europe. Several important partner universities of our university from the Eastern and Central European region participate in this cooperation: the John Paul II Catholic University in Lublin, the Catholic University in Ružomberok from Slovakia, the Catholic University of Croatia in Zagreb, and the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, as well as the Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani University in Tbilisi, Georgia. We are regularly represented at the meeting of the Partnership and our lecturers have also contributed to the professional program of the CUP conferences on several occasions.
In our collaborations, we strive for focused, diverse, high-quality and deep relationships: this means student exchanges, online courses, jointly edited publications, and also joint training programs (joint degrees). As an example, we gave advice and ideas for the launching of the legal training at the Catholic University of Croatia in Zagreb within the framework of the CUP partnership. Our CUP meeting in Zagreb last year was a great success, seven Hungarian representatives traveled to the Croatian capital, from minor priests to junior and senior lecturers to the university management. Some of our collaborations are able to have an impact on the entire university, affecting the lives of our students, staff and lecturers alike.
The aforementioned CUP Partnership is offering training for women leaders in Rome this summer, to which staff from Pázmány are also traveling.
What common themes can you think about, what common projects can you work on together with these organizations? What are the common challenges that you have to face?
In Catholic university associations and partnerships, we share the same experiences and challenges. Given the secularized European environment, given the serious ethical questions that define the era, we try to think about these together. We try to respond to contemporary problems and challenges along the lines of a common Christian perspective, and these networks provide space for this. We try to use international relations to truly focus on the issues of today's world, and to provide our students with usable, authentic knowledge that is embedded in the Christian worldview. I believe this is the essence of our international activity: we must support and help each other in the era of the 4th industrial revolution and the era of artificial intelligence affecting everything.
In addition to all of this, we consider it important to express solidarity, for example, there was an example of this in connection with the earthquake in Syria, and we also visited the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
Artificial intelligence is one of the most current topics today: what are its dangers, and what are the possibilities we can use it for?
The Holy See is also actively dealing with this topic, as shown by the fact that at the end of January, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Culture and Education jointly published a document on AI. Antiqua et Nova also takes a look at the advantages of artificial intelligence, for example in medicine, the economy, education, and society, and what are its potential dangers in the same areas. I believe that it is precisely the task of Catholic universities to ensure that these advantages and potential dangers become increasingly visible and are channeled into the appropriate channels.
What responsibility does a Catholic university have in the secularized society of the 21st century?
Unfortunately, Christianity is not self-evident in the secularized European society, so it is our fundamental responsibility to make the Christian worldview better known to our Hungarian and foreign students, and to present the aspects of Christianity that deeply define the European culture. The Christian worldview has its own logic, and we invite our university students, regardless of their degree, to discover it. For example, someone who studies law will sometimes encounter references to the Christian view of man in connection with legal principles, while someone who studies humanities often has the European Christian culture and its history as the relevant coordinating system of thought. I consider it very important to know and be able to explain the Christian perspective well, as well as the past Christian inspiration of various sciences. It is a huge thing that a student here, whether majoring in law or studying to be a computer science engineer, hears about the social teaching of the Church, can get to know the content of the Bible, and the fundamental principles of the Catholic faith.
Which regions are particularly important to Pázmány?
In addition to the European and Central European regions, the Caucasus: Armenia and Georgia, and the Christian communities of the Middle East have a great importance to us. Our Armenian relations are particularly important and valuable, next year the Armenian Department at our Faculty of Humanities will be ten years old, as well as its long-lasting relationship with the Armenian State Pedagogical University (ASPU) in Yerevan. The initiative, which started ten years ago, has expanded over the years, and we now accept young people - also from Armenia - for BA, MA, and doctoral training in English with an Armenian specialization in our History program. The Scholarship Program for Christian Young People and the Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship Program are also available in our case, so a significant number of Armenian students can study with us. It is important to mention that in December of 2024, a Hungarian Cultural Center opened in Yerevan, in partnership with the Armenian university and Pázmány. Within its framework, Armenians can learn Hungarian and get to know the Hungarian culture. We also have an active relationship with the Armenian Apostolic Church, and we can learn a lot from this Christian community. It is also important to emphasize that while diplomatic relations between the two countries were suspended for years, our relationship was actually continuous thanks to scientific diplomacy, and this was confirmed when the President of the Armenian Republic visited our country and our University in February 2024 after the restoration of state relations.
Our scientific diplomacy and church diplomacy activities have yielded important results that extend to many countries and communities, and we naturally intend to remain active at these levels.
One important part of our foreign affairs activities is precisely the representation of the institution, as a result of which we are not only in contact with the universities themselves, but also with the maintaining churches, dioceses and various related church figures.
Why do you think the mobility opportunities offered at Pázmány University are important, and why are they worth taking advantage of?
Personally, I think it is important that participants - whether they are university colleagues, students or lecturers – can develop a lot during mobility; in a foreign university environment, one can learn to behave comfortably even amidst the challenges of a foreign place, communication in a foreign language, and initially unknown people. For a lecturer, it is a great success to be able to present a complete course in a foreign language. For young university students, the world often opens up through the few-month Erasmus programs, their foreign language competence develops to a unique extent during the time spent in the given language community, and in addition to the valuable university studies, they obviously absorb the culture of a new country, and can make friendships and potential future professional connections. One of the great results of our colleagues’ mobility is usually the sharing of good practices and getting to know the similar or different organizational structures of other universities.
Pázmány offers a variety of mobility options, making it a worthwhile experience for every student, teacher and colleague at Pázmány.
