On October 30, 2015 Wirth Institute Director Dr. Joseph F. Patrouch participated in the signing ceremony in Budapest marking the renewal of the agreement with the Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities supporting the Hungarian Doctoral Research Fellowship Programme administered by the Institute. Dr. Lászlo Palkovics, Minister of State for Higher Education, represented the Hungarian side. (Pictured) Her Excellency Lisa Helfand, Ambassador of Canada to Hungary, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, was in attendance as well. The agreement extends the programme for another five years and provides for its joint funding by the Hungarian Ministry, the Wirth Institute, and local Hungarian-Canadian community groups. While in Hungary, Director Patrouch consulted with officials at the Balassi Institute about tentative plans to establish a visiting professorship in Hungarian Studies at the University of Alberta. He also consulted with representatives of the Corvinus University in Budapest, the University of Szeged, and the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Kecskemét about deepening ties between the University of Alberta and those institutions.
[Picture credit: Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities]