The event started with a welcome ceremony for the freshmen scholarship holders for the 2023/2024 academic year. Students from all over the world were welcomed by Miklós Lengyel, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, at the Welcome event.
Following the speech, the Student Excellence Awards and, for the first time this year, the Hungarian Excellence Awards were presented to the most outstanding scholarship holders. After the lunch break, the students were divided into small groups and took part in an intercultural workshop and an interactive Hungarian folk-dance performance.
The programme provided a great opportunity for participants to meet scholars from other universities, meet Alumni Network Hungary volunteers and share their first month's impressions with their partners from their sending countries. The evening ended with a reception for the partners, opened by Dr. Károly Czibere, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Tempus Public Foundation.
During the three days, the sending partners and representatives of Hungarian higher education institutions participated in several sessions, round tables, and plenary lectures, where the anniversary of Stipendium Hungaricum was a key topic. Participants assessed the main achievements and challenges of the scholarship in internationalising higher education. They stressed the important role the programme has played in the development of Hungary's diplomatic relations and in the lives of Hungarian higher education institutions and scholarship holders.
In the rest of the programme, the main focus was on knowledge sharing and networking: partners and institutions presented their good practices and shared their insights into the application, nomination and recruitment processes. The promotion of Stipendium Hungaricum, the functioning of Alumni Network Hungary and Erasmus+ international credit mobility were also discussed. In addition to the sessions, representatives from the CEEPUS network centres were also able to meet each other.
The event concluded with a round table discussion. Participants recalled the milestones and experiences of the programme, and the biggest challenges they have faced over the past decade. The three-day programme provided an excellent opportunity to share good practices and promote educational cooperation, as well as to discuss the future objectives of Stipendium Hungaricum.