Our PhD Students’ Traineeship at the University of Tartu
Two doctoral students from the Institute of Hungarian Language and Literature—Patrícia Kovács, a second-year student, and Tünde Szendi, a first-year student—participated in a one-week traineeship at the University of Tartu (Tartu Ülikooli) in Estonia from April 20 to 26, 2026. Patrícia gathered professional (theoretical and methodological) knowledge related to her doctoral studies at the Institute of Cultural Research, while Tünde did so at the Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics.
During the one-week traineeship, they were able to consult with local professors and researchers in their respective fields on professional matters, attend classes, explore local archives related to their research topics, and, thanks to visiting lecturer in Hungarian language Krisztina Tóth, had the opportunity to conduct a unique and interactive Hungarian language class for local Estonian students learning Hungarian.
As part of her doctoral research, Patrícia focuses on topics such as multicultural and intercultural education, as well as tale pedagogy. During her internship, she had the opportunity to participate in a class titled “Folklore and Cultural Heritage” taught by Margaret Lyngdoh, a research fellow in Indigenous folklore studies, in her course titled “Folklore and Cultural Heritage”. During the class, she gained insights into the international dimensions of the topic, collected good practices in teaching methodology, and observed the work of students who were presenting their current projects in class. With the assistance of her local mentor, Estonian folklorist Tiiu Jaago, she was able to visit the Estonian Folklore Archives (EFA) and study the Estonian folk tale database in greater depth, as well as collect folk tales that could enrich the folktale section of her doctoral thesis. Alevtina Soloveva, research fellow in Asian studies and folkloristics, delivered a lecture titled “Eschatology and Entrepreneurship in Contemporary Central and Inner Asia” as part of a monthly lecture series held at the university. The event provided an overview of the cultures of the peoples of Central and Inner Asia and offered insight into fieldwork methods and the process of analyzing research findings.
As part of her doctoral research, Tünde is working on a dialectal spoken language corpus (a dialectal audiobook). With the assistance of her local mentor, Tuuli Tuisk—research fellow in phonetics of Finnic Languages (with a specialization in Livonian)—she was able to gain in-depth familiarity with the Archives of Estonian Dialects and Kindred Languages, of which the Estonian Dialect Corpus forms a separate part. With professor Tuisk’s help, she had the opportunity to view the physical version of the archive, which contains audio and video recordings, manuscripts, and photographs, as well as the soundproofed phonetics lab—equipped with modern technical tools necessary for conducting phonetic and psycholinguistic experiments. Tünde also had the chance to meet and consult with Gerson Klumpp, a professor of Finno-Ugric languages and Head of Department, as well as several staff members of the archive. Triin Todesk, research fellow in south Estonian varieties, introduced her to the Estonian dialect regions and discussed the sociolinguistic background of the research. Joshua Wilbur, lecturer in digital linguistics, discussed data quantification and descriptive statistics in his class titled “Corpora in Linguistic Research,” including the use of the Python programming language in the creation of linguistic corpora. Katrin Tsepelina, specialist of language resources and the archive’s technical manager, shared useful insights into its technical and infrastructural background.
During their study trip, Patrícia and Tünde collected numerous good practises, gained plenty of inspiration, ideas, and advice for their doctoral research, shared their experiences to date, and built valuable professional and personal connections. They got a taste of Estonian culture by exploring iconic sites in Tartu, known as the city of students (such as the University Library, the Estonian National Museum, and the Selli-Sillaotsa study trail, located about 30 kilometers away).
Patrícia Kovács and Tünde Szendi
PhD Students, Institute of Hungarian Language and Literature
Smart Tourism Academy – project meeting in Latvia
On February 2 and 3, 2026, an international meeting of partners of the Erasmus+ Smart Tourism Academy project took place in Riga, Latvia. The host institution was the partner Turiba University, which welcomed experts from eight European countries – Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland.
The Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, which is also the coordinator of the entire project, was represented at the event by representatives of the Department of Tourism – Ing. Norbert Beták, PhD. univ. doc. and Ing. Hana Bieliková, PhD.
The meeting took the form of a round-table meeting, and its main objective was to begin work on the development of new online study courses. Discussions focused on the content structure and pedagogical approaches for the planned course entitled "Green Approaches and the Basics of Regenerative Tourism”. This course will be available to students in the next academic year and will provide them with a deeper understanding of the principles of sustainability, green innovation, and responsible resource management.
The program also included a practical demonstration of sustainability in the hotel industry during a visit to the TRIBE hotel and a tour of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, which gave participants an insight into the cultural context and history of the country.
The Smart Tourism Academy project (No. 2025-1-SK01-KA220-HED-000362455) focuses on modern education and training for the next generation of professionals, for whom sustainable tourism will no longer be a choice but a necessity.
Text: Ing. Norbert Beták, PhD. univ. doc.
Photo: archive of the Department
Development of family businesses within Visegrad+
Family businesses in the V4 countries face various problems. One reason is the lack of continuity in business over the past, driven by political and social changes.
The project titled SkillBridge: Enhancing Family Tourism Enterprises through Education and Cooperation in V4 & Albania was supported under the Visegrad+ call of the International Visegrad Fund, grant number 22520073.
The project aims to strengthen the development and competitiveness of family businesses and future start-ups in the tourism sector by supporting knowledge exchange between selected countries of the Visegrad Group (V4) – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Albania – and stakeholders. As part of the task allocation and related activities, an online meeting was held with all participants. The online meeting lasted three hours and discussed the tasks and deadlines. The online meeting was friendly, and all participants expressed their willingness to work on the project.
This collaboration between academic researchers and industry experts provides a comprehensive view of family businesses in the tourism industry. We believe that it will be of great benefit to the academic community, all participants, and economic practice.
Research team for UKF in Nitra: doc. Ing. Mgr. Ľubomíra Strážovská, PhD., Ing. Norbert Beták, PhD., univ. doc., Ing. Hana Bieliková, PhD., PhDr. Viktória Bíziková, PhD. MBA, Ing. Kristína Pančíková, PhD.
Partner institutions: Silesian University in Opava (Czech Republic), University of Pannonia (Hungary), Aleksandër Moisiu University of Durrës (Albania)
Duration: 1/10/2025-31/03/2027
Text: doc. Ing. Mgr. Ľubomíra Strážovská, PhD.
Photo: Department of Tourism archive
A Distinguished Professional Lecture on the Practice of Cross-Border Regional Development
At the beginning of December 2025, students from the Department of Tourism at the Faculty of Central European Studies of Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra enthusiastically attended a distinguished professional lecture delivered by Csilla Veres, Head of the Interreg Slovakia–Hungary Joint Secretariat, and Programme Manager Arianna Biriki. The experts from Budapest offered students a clear and insightful overview of how EU-supported cross-border projects operate, with particular focus on their relevance to tourism industry.
Through examples, the speakers presented the structure of the European Union’s cross-border development initiatives, the stages of project implementation, the importance of partnerships, as well as the opportunities and challenges inherent in professional communication and marketing. Students gained a deeper understanding of how territorial development strategies connect with tourism and how these synergies can contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of our border regions.
The Faculty of Central European Studies remains committed to supporting similar professional collaborations in the future. Practice-oriented learning and opportunities to build professional networks enable our students to acquire up-to-date knowledge and establish a solid foundation for their successful career. We extend our sincere gratefulness to everyone whose work contributed to the success of the event, and special appreciation goes to the representatives of the Joint Secretariat, whose presence and valuable expertise enriched our students’ learning experience and offered an inspiring example of the potential of inter-institutional cooperation.
Photo and text: Mgr. Szilvia Néveri Varagya, PhD. and students of the Department of Tourism
Smart Tourism Academy launches
The Department of Tourism at the Faculty of Central European Studies, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, has become the coordinating institution for the successful international project 2025-1-SK01-KA220-HED-000362455 SmartTourismAcademy: Preparing the next generation of tourism experts, as part of the Erasmus+ programme. Its main objective is to support modern education in the field of green and regenerative tourism and contribute to the development of sustainable approaches in practice. Its main aim is to support modern education in the field of green and regenerative tourism and contribute to the development of sustainable approaches in practice. The partner consortium met for the first time on November 23-25,2025, at Budapest Metropolitan University, which hosted the initial kick-off meeting. The meeting focused on setting detailed terms of cooperation, harmonising project activities, and sharing proven methodological procedures in education. Students, field experts, and non-university communities will be actively involved in the project. The partners will publish ongoing information and project results on their websites and social media pages.
Text: Ing. Norbert Beták, PhD. univ. doc. – project leader
Second Workshop at the Faculty of Central European Studies within the Recovery Plan Project
On October 7, 2025, the second workshop took place at the Faculty of Central European Studies of Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra as part of the project Preparation of Future Teachers of Slovak Language and Slovak Literature for Educational Practice in Schools with Hungarian as the Language of Instruction. The project has been implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic and supported by the Recovery Plan as a joint initiative of the Faculty of Central European Studies and the Faculty of Arts of Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra.
The participants of the workshop were welcomed by Ladislav Szekeres, Dean of the Faculty of Central European Studies at CPU in Nitra. Among the invited guests were representatives of the Department of Education — Kálmán Petőcz, Director General of the Department of National Minority and Inclusive Education, and Dóra Kanyicska Belán, Director of the Department for the Development of Minority Education — as well as members of the media and other institutions. The event was moderated by the project’s principal investigator, Ildikó Vančo.
The first two presentations featured contributions from the project team members of the Faculty of Central European Studies at CPU in Nitra. Anna Oros Bugár presented the results of research conducted at primary schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction, carried out during the earlier stages of the project. Ján Gallik and Michal Krauter introduced a new course on strategies for teaching Slovak language and Slovak literature in schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction, as well as an updated course on communication skills. These courses are being piloted in the current academic year in cooperation with the Institute for Teacher Education of the Faculty of Central European Studies at CPU in Nitra.
Patrik Petráš, a representative of the project team from the Faculty of Arts at CPU in Nitra, presented the results of research conducted at lower secondary schools with Hungarian as the language of instruction.
Katalin Hernády Sýkora, Klaudia Paulíková, and Patrik Šenkár from János Selye University in Komárno presented the project Slovak as a Second Language in the Undergraduate Training of Teachers, which is being implemented at their university under the same Recovery Plan call.
Máté Huber from the University of Szeged shared his experiences in preparing future foreign language teachers. He emphasized the need to use innovative methods and digital technologies in teaching, while also pointing out the importance of traditional methods, which can be equally effective when applied correctly.
The next part of the program featured presentations by the authors of Slovak textbook series designed for pupils with Hungarian as their mother tongue. Rózsa Skabela introduced the Živé obrázky series, and Adrienn Bakos presented the Po slovensky hravo series. These textbooks offer interactive and engaging teaching materials that emphasize a communicative approach and the application of foreign language teaching methods in the acquisition of Slovak.
In the last presentation, Orsolya Végh spoke via video, presenting her experience from the Rozumieme.si project, which aims to overcome barriers, get to know each other and make friends between children of Hungarian and Slovak nationality.
The roundtable discussion, which formed the final part of the official program, provided space for questions related to the presented results, as well as suggestions and inspiration from workshop participants — both members of the project team and invited experts and guests. Perhaps the greatest encouragement for the project team came from the address by Kálmán Petőcz and Dóra Kanyicska Belán, who, as representatives of the Department of Education, expressed their satisfaction with the results achieved so far and offered support for the next stage of the project — a phase that will require considerable personal and time investment from the team members.
In conclusion, it can be stated that the workshop contributed to the necessary exchange and summarization of information between the project teams of both faculties, to the evaluation of the current stage of the project, and to the definition of tasks for its next phase.
Text: Mgr. Michal Krauter, PhD. – ICELC FCES CPU in Nitra
Photos: Dóra Török
