FUTURE Participants (29): agnes, Peter_Hantz, pentek, kasa, lnagy, avillalonga, barkats, Kalman, ori, istvan, unifel2, mstrubell, peter_juhasz, jirmijah, pentek, ainhoa, gyapayg, Tamas_Juhasz, penteki, mfulop, klehel, varganora, iren, fekete, ABOA, denes, bakk, bpalmada, lochner. What about the future? If you think this online conference is a good thing, let's think about its future. We wish to develop the database. So, we would appreciate your contribution to the improvement of the quality of our work by expressing your opinion about it. Which questions you think are the most interesting, and what kind of questions would you like to see in the next questionnaire? What about this online discussion? Would you like to have it in the future in the same way, and if so, on which topics? How do you like the photo gallery? What kind of other online actions, exhibitions, etc., would be useful to present certain aspects of minority education? We also plan to organize a 'real' conference in this field. What sort of agenda would you suggest for a real conference? What period of the academic year would be most suitable for you to take part? What kind of support would your university need in order to be able to send delegates to a real conference? Finally, please take the time and tell us which part of this initiative did you like most and why? What was useful and why? Real conference [16:15] kasa | professor | Babes-Bolyai Cluj A database on minority education is welcome. A permanent homepage on this too. I found the photo gallery very interesting. Please, compare the different universities! A real conference between other on-line conferences will be, in my opinion, very useful. [16:19] Peter_Hantz | Secretary, Head of the Education Committee | Hungarian National Council of Transylvania Yes, we have good chances to organize a real conference, moreover a series of conferences. I was advised to apply, together with other organizations interested in minority higher education, to the EU for a conference series. We will do this in the next months. [17:17] Peter_Hantz | Secretary, Head of the Education Committee | Hungarian National Council of Transylvania I FACED A MAJOR PROBLEM AS ORGANIZER. I was unable to contact some universities, and even if I managed to contact them, they were very passive. [17:28] Peter_Hantz | Secretary, Head of the Education Committee | Hungarian National Council of Transylvania We would like to broaden the scientific, as well as the organizing committee. Please do not hesitate to write me if you could take part in the future work. We are also looking for regional workmates who could contact the minority universities in their region, and could persuade them to fill the present/future databases, and could keep in touch with the surrounding universities. I would be very grateful if some of you could accept such a 'position'. [18:15] Peter_Hantz | Secretary, Head of the Education Committee | Hungarian National Council of Transylvania I'm asking my question again Could somebody help me in contacting further universities in Catalonia, Basque Country, Finland, Wales, and FYROM? [18:20] mstrubell | ex-director, Humanities degree programme | Universitat Oberta de Catalunya I can help you, Peter, find universities in Catalonia, Basque Country, Wales. Not FYROM I'm afraid (I know the OSCE was involved in a project to start up an Albanian-language university there, but I'm not sure how it has developed. And Finland? Perhaps Vaasa would be a good idea to contact. ... Maybe the best thing would be for you to write to me mstrubell@uoc.edu and I'll send you some ideas. All the Catalan-medium universities, including Perpinyà, are linked through the Institut Joan-Luís Vives, www.vives.org so they would be a good place to start. [18:22] ainhoa | postgraduate and european topisc manager | BASQUE SUMMER UNIVERSITY Ian Ainhoa from the Basque country, I saw that you contacted with some other "Basque" universities... but today they are no here... I think that I can help you, but I need to know which type of contact you have already done... 1 [18:32] mstrubell | ex-director, Humanities degree programme | Universitat Oberta de Catalunya As to the future: a suggestion. It would be very easy to set up a distribution list through, for example, www.yahoogroups.com in order to share information and keep touch with people in each of the universities that expressed their interest in the conference and others that can be invited to join. I have started several and they are very easy to manage. [18:34] kasa | professor | Babes-Bolyai Cluj As I see, there are a lot of problems to solve (mainly in the east part of Europe) and 4 hours are not enough. What about a real conference (a 2 or 3 days one, where much more discussion can be made). In what conditions can you participate at a such conference? And when? [18:34] Peter_Hantz | Secretary, Head of the Education Committee | Hungarian National Council of Transylvania Yes, we will set up the list in the next days. [18:38] Peter_Hantz | Secretary, Head of the Education Committee | Hungarian National Council of Transylvania What sort of agenda would you suggest for a real conference? What period of the academic year would be most suitable for you to take part? What kind of support would your university need in order to be able to send delegates to a real conference? Travel costs? Accomodation costs? Both? [18:40] fekete | PhD Student | Babes-Bolyai University would be possible te organize next sprig a real conference on the topic of higher education of national minorities / for example in Kolozsvar /. Are the other participants to this online conference interested? [18:49] ori | president | Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute named after F. Rákóczi II Wherever it the conference is organised we need visa, and it's not simple for us to get it. As we see mainly Hungarian minorities living in Carpathian Basin applied for this conference their future depends on Hungary and the neighboring countries. Our situation and numerous previous propositions are familiar to both sides, we consider it is high time to act. [18:52] bpalmada | Vicerectora de Docčncia | Universitat de Girona Fell free to contact me if you need help in contacting universities in Catalonia. A suggestion for the future: You could open it to a specific group of students in order to build a common view of the linguistic aspects of the Bologna Process. [19:02] peter_juhasz | organizer | Organizing Committee I suggest to gather an offline, long term group of specialists working on the Charter. They could work as an email group, and organizers should focus on representation of all traditional national minorities within this group. [19:25] kasa | professor | Babes-Bolyai Cluj The place of a real conference can be choose after a consultation with all interested universities. I like to be in Kolozsvár, but for Ucrainenain and Serbian citizens maybe is easier to go in Hungary as in Transylvania. [19:50] iren | Full Professor | Faculty of Economics Subotica Dear Participants, We would like to thank you for the discussion and a possibility to share ideas and experiences with you. We would like to stay in touch with you. Our e-mail adress: slavica@eccf.su.ac.yu With best wishes: Iren Gabrity Molnar and Agnes Slavic from Serbia [19:57] mstrubell | ex-director, Humanities degree programme | Universitat Oberta de Catalunya I hope that you will inform the news agency on minority languages about this initiative. http://www.eurolang.net Editor in Chief Dr Davyth A. Hicks mailto:davythhicks@yahoo.co.uk Brussels Office: Simone Klinge mailto:simone@eblul.org 49 Rue Saint Josse / Sint-Jooststraat, B-1210 Bruxelles / Brussel, België / Belgique tel + 32 (0) 2 250 31 61 fax + 32 (0) 2 218 19 74 [19:59] mstrubell | ex-director, Humanities degree programme | Universitat Oberta de Catalunya I too am leaving the chat-rooms. Thank you for your company and your interesting ideas. 2 Before elaving allow me to convey to you the greetings of Emma Kiselyova, who is responsible for International Relations at our university, the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, and who could not unfortunately join the meeting today. I will willingly pass on to her any requests from participants. Please contact me at mailto:mstrubell@uoc.edu. Goodbye and good luck! Bolyai University [16:28] Peter_Hantz | Secretary, Head of the Education Committee | Hungarian National Council of Transylvania I would kindly ask you to read the Position below, and if you agree, please send me an e-mail, and write in its subject "I agree with the Bolyai Position" Position on the re-establishment of the Hungarian public university in Romania Just before Romania’s accession to the European Union, it is time to express our concern about Romania’s discriminative policies against the minorities. Higher education plays an essential role in the social, economic and cultural development of all groups of people. Although most of national minority groups in Europe are allowed to establish and run their own higher education institutions financial supported by the given countries, Romania still denies this right of the Hungarian minority in Transylvania. This attitude is inconceivable, especially as higher education in minority languages has proven to be successful, and minority higher education institutions contributed substantially not only to the development of the minority groups, but also to the advancement of their respective states. A multicultural university is defined as an institution where all working languages are equal, all students and professors know and speak freely these languages, and an atmosphere of mutual respect prevails. Unfortunately, this definition cannot be applied to any of the state universities in Romania. Moreover, Romanian authorities use this term as a smokescreen to cover the discriminative measures applied to the Hungarian minority. With this in view, the participants at the First European Conference on Higher Education for National Minorities urge that immediate steps be taken to re-establish the Bolyai University at ClujNapoca/Kolozsvár/Klausenburg. [16:34] mstrubell | ex-director, Humanities degree programs | Universitat Oberta de Catalunya I think we would all like to know a little more about the original Bolyai University at ClujNapoca/Kolozsvár/Klausenburg, and when and why it was closed down. [16:41] lnagy | vicerector | Babes-Bolyai University I, as the vice rector of the Babes-Bolyai University from Cluj/Kolozsvar, Romania, do not agree with the position expressed by Peter Hantz. See my contribution at the Charta section. [16:43] kasa | professor | Babes-Bolyai Cluj The first modern university in Cluj (Kolozsvár) was established in 1872, having Hungarian as its language of tuition. This was in fact the second university of the Hungarian Kingdom. In 1919 it was confiscated by the Romanian authorities (one year before the Treaty of Trianon was signed). The Hungarian professors had to leave Cluj, and moved to Szeged, where a new university was founded. In the buildings of the university a Romanian language university was established. Between 1940 and 1944 the Romanian university was moved to Timisoara and Sibiu and the Hungarian university was re-established. After the Second World War, in the autumn of the year 1944, after the return of the Romanian university, there were two universities in Cluj. Later the Romanian university was named after the Romanian physician Victor Babes (Victor Babes University) and the Hungarian one after the Hungarian mathematicians János and Farkas Bolyai (Bolyai University). The Babes-Bolyai University was founded in 1959 through a merging by force of these two institutions, which caused the suicide of several Hungarian professors. Over the years the education in Hungarian language was forced back step by step, until the moment when in 1989 only a few courses were held in Hungarian. After 1990 several new specializations (fields, majors) were promoted, yet a major change came only in 1993, when the Ministry of Education allocated distinct enrolment figures for those willing to study in Hungarian. [17:01] Peter_Hantz | Secretary, Head of the Education Committee | Hungarian National Council of Transylvania I will list some common misleading arguments against the Bolyai University, as well as their refutes. Please consult the comments of the organizers attached to the Babes-Bolyai University's questionnaire. www.conf.bolyai-u.ro -> databases -> Hungarian minority You can also have a look on the Picture gallery of the babes-Bolyai University. X. The Babes-Bolyai University is a true multi-cultural university, which not only satisfies the European norms, but also serves as a prime example. A. Max van der Stoel, head of European Securit Organization’s National Minority department, in his letters to the then dean Andrei Marga, repeatedly highlighted the problem of complete lack of Hungarian language signs at the universtiy, as well as the uni-lingual nature of all the university’s official publications and diplomas. He made his recommendations for funding minority education, however, these problems still have not been resolved. Through preventing the establishment of independent faculties, BabesBolyai University not only offends ESO’s recommendation in regards to minority education, but also offends article 123 of the educational law. 3 X. Supporters of the independent university seek ethnic segregation. A. Leaders of the Hungarian faculty have repeatedly emphasized that the independent university would only be Hungarian in respect to language of instruction, while ethnical identity of students, teachers, and staff would not be a condition for admittance and hiring. Both the admissions and hiring processes would be based on language competency and professional expertise. Even today there are Romanian nationalities attending the Hungarian faculty of BBTE, thus we can rule out ethnic segregation. X. The majority of BBTE’s teaching staff does not wish either the establishment of Bolyai University, or the establishment of Hungarian faculties within BBTE. A. BBTE has not conducted any surveys in regards to the establishment of Bolyai University or of Hungarian faculties at BBTE, only within the circle of Hungarian teachers, whose vast majority supports the independence initiative. [18:15] fekete | PhD Student | Babes-Bolyai University The re-establishment of the independent Hungarian State University (Bolyai University) was, and still is, the major wish of the Hungarians of Transsylvania since the changes of 1989. For example, 700.000 of 1.700.000 (the total number of Hungarian minorities) Transsylvanian Hungarians signed the petition, which required this re-establishment and sent to the European Parliament. Because this re-establishment was never accepted, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR, RMDSZ) decided in 1996 to leave the govern, causing a governmental crisis. No success has been registered ever since. We think, that NOW (before our entrance in the EU, together with the implementation of Bologna process) is the moment to re-establish the Bolyai University. Higher education of minority [16:38] ori | president | Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute named after F. Rákóczi II We agree with the importance of higher education of minority. In Ukraine it is allowed to organize higher educational establishments but it is not supported financially by the state. We consider that as minorities are also citizens of the country therefore the state should support minority education at all levels financially. [17:30] ori | president | Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute named after F. Rákóczi II On the contrary to Transsylvania, in the modern Transcarpathia (wich was a part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Czheslovakia, Hungary, Soviet Ukrainian Republic. Since 1991 it has been part of independent Ukraine) there have never been any higher educational establishment for minorities. [17:30] ori | president | Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute named after F. Rákóczi II The first period of Hungarian higher education in Transcarpathia began in 1953 at the Uzhgorod Teacher’s College where a new specialization tier was opened - Hungarian language and literature studies. But the institution was closed down in 1954, and the students of the college (among them those who studied Hungarian language and literature) because the students of Uzhhorod State University, which was established in 1945. The second period began in 1963 when the Hungarian Philology Department was founded at Uzhgorod State University [17:31] ori | president | Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute named after F. Rákóczi II In 1993 three organizations ( Trancarpatian Cultural Organisation, Trancarpathian Pedagogical Association and Trancarpathian Hungarian Protesant Church) established the Foundation for Trancarpathian Hungarian College, the college in 1994 began its work wiht Teacher Training College of Nyiregyhaza. Since1996 it has been functioning as an independent Ukrainian Institute. In 2003 it was renamed to Ferenc Rakoczi II. At the moment there are 1000 students at the institute at 22 faculties. The Institute issues degrees acknowledged by the Ukrainian State. After four years of training the institute issues a Bachelor’s Degree, after five years of training the students obtain the Specialist Degree which is a middle level between the Bachelors and Masters Degree and it equals to a Ukrainian university degree. Our institute is accredited by the Ukrainian State but according to the Ukrainian Laws the state doesn’t supported financially. Our main sponsor is the Ministry of Education of Hungary but the money provided by them is not enough for running the institute. [17:41] ori | president | Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute named after F. Rákóczi II We are continuously searching for sponsors in order to maintain the establishment as the students and their parents can’t afford paying the fees. In our opinion a possible solution might be that the Hungarian and Ukrainian States should both contribute to the maintenance of our institute. [17:53] Peter_Hantz | Secretary, Head of the Education Committee | Hungarian National Council of Transylvania Why your university does not get financing from the Ukrainian state? [17:58] ori | president | Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute named after F. Rákóczi II We don't get financing from the Ukrainian State because they finance only universities and institutes established by the Ukrainian State unlike in Hungary where the universities and institutes established not by the state get financing from the state on the equal level. 4 [18:08] Peter_Hantz | Secretary, Head of the Education Committee | Hungarian National Council of Transylvania I think this is a discrimination not only against the Hungarian minority, but also against the institutions founded by the Churches. Did you try to change this law? The new government does not support your ideas? [18:13] iren | Full Professor | Faculty of Economics Subotica We think that each participant will have to make a presentation about themselves, their experiences about multilingual education with the aim to share ideas and experiences. And it to be present on this webpage. [18:23] ori | president | Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute named after F. Rákóczi II Our information as to Churces and other minorities is trueexcept for the Russian. The Russians can study on their native tongue on any levels (they form 20 percent of the population of the whole country). All the other minorities live in Ukraine in lower number, so it seems as if there were first and second-class minorities. There is only one representative of the Hungarian minority in the Parliament and any suggestions made by us are not supported on the proper level. 5