“The Department of Ukrainian language and Culture, which was closed in 2013, is to be reopened at the University of Nyíregyháza”, Government Commissioner for the coordination of development tasks in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County and Subcarpathia István Grezsa announced on Tuesday at the institution.
Mr. Grezsa stressed that the Hungarian minority in Ukraine expects to be able to freely use its native language, and an opportunity must also be provided for the study of the Ukrainian language and Slavic studies in Hungary. The Government Commissioner said it was Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s request that the Department be reopened at the earliest opportunity at the University of Nyíregyháza.
The Department of Ukrainian and Rusyn Philology was first established in 1992 at the University’s legal predecessor, the Bessenyei György College of Teaching, where courses in Ukrainian language began a year later. The Head of Department, until his death in 2005, was István Udvari, in whose honour a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the University on Tuesday.
In his speech, Mr. Grezsa highlighted the fact that István Udvari had left behind an outstandingly valuable and diverse heritage thanks to unique diligence. His publications, monographs and articles are the “permanent building blocks” of international and Hungarian Slavistics.
At the event, President of the Cultural Association of Hungarians in Subcarpathia László Brenzovics said that the Hungarian minority in Ukraine has close links to the University of Nyiregyhaza in view of the fact that the institutions has done a lot to facilitate the opening of the Rákóczi Ferenc Subcarpathian Hungarian College, in addition to which many young people from Subcarpathia have studied in Nyiregyháza. According to Mr. Brenzovics it is important to train people who know the culture of both countries, because that strengthens relations between the parties.
The University of Nyíregyháza has undertaken to begin Ukrainian language courses during its institution development plan for the period ending in 2020, and the University’s senate voted to re-establish the Department of Ukrainian language and Culture at a meeting in November 2016. The University has several goals with relation to the reopening of the Department: to offer a BSc in Ukrainian studies, to hold supplementary language courses and to perform philological research and prepare literary translations, as well as playing a community role in facilitating the development of Hungarian-Ukrainian relations.
The Head of Department will be Viktória Stefuca, who was born into a bilingual family in the Subcarpathian town of Huszt and is currently the Vice-President of the Ukrainian National Self-Government. The course is expected to receive accreditation within a few months and teaching at the University of Nyíregyháza’s new department will begin in 2018.