A short time ago we welcomed Sándor Simon from Hungary to teach at the Faculty of Science and Technology at UVic. He is an associate professor at Gál Ferenc college. We asked him to write about his stay. Here’s what he said…
Amazing Vic
Schools are similar – most people think. Every university has more interesting or less interesting courses. There are more lovable or less lovable teachers. Then why should we visit other universities? After many years of teaching, I know that the best way to get to know other cultures, another mentality, and have new friends or relationships is to travel and take advantage of all your possibilities, such as visiting a university in another country. Until you get the chance to meet others, you won’t feel the pleasure of experiencing people from different homelands, habits and cultural backgrounds, but with similar aims in life to yourself.
Universities have international agreements, usually a lot. This academic year I thought about setting myself a new aim: to visit a country which is quite far away from my homeland. It was also important to have at least an agreement between our universities. This way I decided that I would choose sunny Spain, and especially Catalunya. I expected friendly people, as I had heard that in Latin-cultured countries relations between people are very heartwarming and unselfish. I was not disappointed in Vic and in Catalunya. My one-week-long visit to Vic was long enough to become friends with my colleague, Jaume Miquel March Amengual. Now I’m looking forward to the moment I can pay back such warm hospitality as he gave me during the week I visited Vic.
I was a guest teacher at Jaume’s courses of “Entrepreneurship” and “Business Strategy and Marketing”. I taught eight teaching hours, a necessary condition to accept the Erasmus Plus Teacher Mobility Grant. The grant was suitable for the costs of the visit. Before my visit to Vic, Jaume and I specified in detail, what I should include in my classes. Since we teach similar subjects, it wasn’t difficult to harmonize the content. I am also very grateful for the students, who accepted my teaching in the English language. The students were clever and open to new things. After some minutes of using English, they could ask me long questions or expressed their opinions about what I asked them. They will become good experts.
I was a guest at the Faculty of Science and Technology, and on the Mechatronics Engineering degree, led by Juli Ordeix Rigo and the teachers were also very friendly. My visit could not have been imagined without the lot of work of Sarah Khan, who coordinates the international mobilities at the faculty. The historic medieval city center of Vic made my free time wonderful.
Què més puc dir? Quan tornaré a Vic, a la Facultat de Ciències i Tecnologia?
Dr. Sandor Simon
This article was edited and proofread by Sarah Khan and Viktória Sas.
