The “Bench of Knowledge” was inaugurated in the park of the new theoretical building of the Szigeti street medical campus. The “A Pécsi orvoskar oktatói Marosvásárhelyen” (Educators of the Pécs Medical School in Marosvásárhely) interview volume was also introduced during the events of the Transylvanian Medical and Pharmaceutical Days, held on October 25-26.
“We came to Pécs because we wanted to give another gift to our guest lecturers, who have always come to us with love and abnegation”, said dr. Valerián Ádám, chairman of the Association for Hungarian Medical and Pharmaceutical Education Romania at the celebratory inauguration. he added: there are currently 31 educators waiting to teach the students of the Marosvásárhely Medical School – depending on the pandemic, of course.
He emphasized: in order for the Marosvásárhely course to survive, the quality of education has to be improved due to the competitiveness of the market, since more and more students will choose to study in their hometowns. The continuation of the guest lecturer programme is high important, as is the opportunity for students to complete their clinical practices at one of the four Hungarian medical universities. He pointed out that Pécs has always been the best at welcoming Transylvanian Hungarian students; in the past ten years, almost a thousand students came here for their summer practice.
As a sign of their gratitude, the Transylvanians have already presented the faculty with a gift, the “Column of Unity”; the Bench of Knowledge is the second such gift. It is the donation of Pár Magyari entrepreneur from Nyárádremete, and dr. Gábor Köllő vicar, a work of woodcarver László Máté.
Dr. Attila Miseta, rector of the University of Pécs thanked the Transylvanians for their gift, emphasizing: the unity of Hungarian-speaking communities has to be maintained; this is the heartfelt desire of the university, and also causes joy for the guest lecturer colleagues.
As he said, the cooperation started in 2006 at the initiative of the colleagues from Transylvania, with one-week courses taught in English both for Hungarian and Romanian students. Education later narrowed down to Hungarian students only, but more and more courses started, more people went to teach and more students came to Pécs for partial training. According to Dr. Attila Miseta, the main task of an educator is sharing their knowledge both at home and abroad. The rector trusts that in the Spring, with the easing of the pandemic, the cooperation with the Marosvásárhely Medical School can become tighter again.
The Bench of Knowledge was blessed by dr. Gábor Köllő, vicar of Nyárádremete, followed by a speech by dr. Imre Benedek, cardiologist professor from Marosvásárhely. He called the bench the symbol of the cooperation of Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin. He thanked and highlighted the generous and selfless work of dr. Attila Miseta in the past years, and expressed his faith in being able to continue to rely on the help of both the Pécs Medical School and the Hungarian motherland.
The programme continued with the introduction of the “Educators of the Pécs Medical School in Marosvásárhely” interview volume, presented to the audience by dr. Valérián Ádám, chairman of the Association for Hungarian Medical and Pharmaceutical Education Romania. The audience included guest lecturers mentioned in the book as well.
The 500-page volume was written by Transylvanian Journalist Gyöngyi Bodolai, who expressed her gratitude to the professors at Pécs Medical School for taking the time to talk to her during their visits to Marosvásárhely. The 65 interviews are not only about professional careers or the introduction of a certain field of science, but also show the human side of the interviewees. The informal chats revealed that the author of the planned second volume will be Károly Boér, editor of the Marosvásárhely Radio.