KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

A few days ago, the Department of Armenian Studies was officially opened at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University. The specialist of Armenian Studies Balint Kovach was appointed as the Head of the new Department.

In 2016, a bilateral agreement was signed between the Armenian State Pedagogical University and the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, which aimed at fostering cooperation between the Universities, develop scientific and educational collaboration of both Universities, carrying out academic exchange programmes for students and lecturers, and cooperating in the sphere of Armenian studies. What is more, starting from September 2016, the students of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University have been provided with an opportunity to obtain specialisation in the field of Armenian studies, and more than ten students of the University have already shown preference to this very specialisation.

Later on, starting from 2017, a Master’s Degree course on Armenian Studies will be provided by the given University.

Furthermore, the students of the Pedagogical University will have a chance to continue their education at the Catholic University for one semester. The mutual visit of the students of the given University to the ASPU is also being expected.

Thus, the educational scientific and academic cooperation between the Armenian State Pedagogical University and the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, and mainly the opening of the Department of Armenian Studies, and the upcoming MA course in the same field, in particular, are an important step towards development of Armenian Studies in Europe.

The Pázmány Péter Catholic University is a higher educational establishment governed by the Catholic Church, operating under the sponsorship of the Vatican. The University was founded in 1635, in the years of the Ottoman blockade, when the Archbishop Pázmány Péter established the University that later on had a epoch-making meaning for education in Europe and preservation of religious culture. He was sure that the University was the only guaranty for the survival of a nation and preservation of its moral and mental culture.

The University has the Institute of Canon Laws, Archaeological Geographic Information System Laboratory, 3D Image Processing and Stereography Research Group, and the Jedlik laboratories at the Faculty of Information Technology and Bionics, which conduct research in the following areas: Nano-bio technologies, Info-Bionics and Sensor-Computing, Tele-presence and linguists technologies, etc.