The 60th Academic Year 2018/2019 began on September 25th with an official ceremony. As per tradition, it took place in the Aula of the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, where we welcomed esteemed guests from Slovakia and abroad. Among them, our former President of Slovakia Ivan Gašparovič, Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic, Ján Richter, several parliamentarians, the mayor of Nitra, Jozef Dvonč, president of the Nitra Self-Governing Region, doc. Milan Belica, the Diocesan Bishop of Nitra, prof. Viliam Judák, the rectors and vice-rectors of several Slovak and foreign universities, the emeritus representatives of our university, 18 current ambassadors to Slovakia and others.

The ceremony's opening was brought by our vice-rector for education doc. PaedDr. Jana Duchovičová, PhD. The program began with the inauguration ceremony of the rector of the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra prof. RNDr. Libor Vozár, CSc. and the deans of the three faculties, the dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences prof. RNDr. František Petrovič, PhD., the dean of the Faculty of Arts doc. PhDr. Jamila Jurová, PhD. and the dean of the Faculty of Education doc. PaedDr. Gábor Pintes, PhD.

In his speech, the rector addressed the universities various activities and commended the universities' assets, especially the teachers and students. He also expressed joy regarding the fact that our university is favored by young people: "We can say with great content that until this day, more than 6600 students have applied for this academic year at our university."

The former President of Slovakia Ivan Gašparovič addressed the students as they are the significant people of tomorrow. He called out to them, so they would be humble, but strive for excellence and so they would use their time wisely.

Slovak Rectors´ Conference President prof. JUDr. Marek Šmid, PhD. pointed out the strong traits of our university and wished three things to our rector and deans: "So you could change for the better, what could be changed, sou you would accept the bad, that cannot be changed, and so you would have the ability to recognize on from the other, and that way would be able to remain strong and able to serve even under the burden of the rectorship's and the deanship's chains."

After that, the mayor of Nitra Jozef Dvonč addressed the crowd, and passed on the Memorial Writings, created on the 770th anniversary of the establishment of the King City, Nitra.

At the end, the chairman of the Students' Parliament of our university Bc. Viktória Kyselová addressed the crowd, especially the new students. She also expressed her to wish to unite the students' spirits, also via the numerous students' events the Parliament organizes. "For the finishing touch, I would like to express my wish. So we might meet the same way we meet today, at the opening of the academic year, and enjoy each other's company at the students' events."

The extraordinary ceremony was underlined by the musical performance of Ružena Balogová with the piano played by Marek Štrbák from the Department of Music of our Faculty of Education. The music written by Mikuláš Schneider Trnavský and Peter Mascagni were a culturally rich addition to the inauguration.

Text: Mgr. Tímea Kamenická, R – Office for Public relations and Social Affairs