On November 28, prof. RNDr., Libor Vozár, CSc., Rector of UKF in Nitra, received the Ambassador of the Italian Republic, H.E. Mrs. Catherine Flumiani, who visited UKF again accompanied by Mgr. Martina Mistríková. The meeting of the Rector with Ambassador was attended by Vice-rector for international relations, Assoc. Prof. PhDr. Martina Pavlíková, PhD., Dean of the Faculty of Arts, prof. PhDr. Martin Hetényi, PhD., and Head of the Department of Romance Languages and German Studies of the Faculty of Arts, prof. PaedDr. Eva Stranovská, PhD. As part of the work meeting, the Vice-rector for international relations informed Mrs. Flumiani about various forms of international cooperation of UKF in Nitra with Italian universities and academic institutions.

Prof. Eva Stranovská informed the Mrs. Catherine Flumiani about the current situation regarding the possibility of studying the Italian language. Subsequently, she presented the future vision of the Department of Romance Languages and German Studies at the Faculty of Arts, in which she emphasized that the department is unique especially in the strength of the teamwork. The entire team of the department is cohesive and cooperates within its 4 language sections – Italian, Spanish, French and German. The department plans to focus on recruiting secondary school students and promoting foreign language study opportunities at the Faculty of Arts. It is important to focus not only on secondary schools within Nitra, but also on its surrounding and more distant districts (southern and eastern Slovakia). Support of Romance languages will also be realized through research and educational projects of APVV, VEGA, KEGA, Erasmus+ and others.

As part of the future plans, prof. Stranovská indicated several new options that would make studying Italian more attractive, such as:

or online courses:

Prof. Eva Stranovská expressed her gratitude to the Embassy of the Italian Republic for the support of the Department of Romance Languages and German Studies of the Faculty of Arts in the provision of lecturers, lectures for students, as well as for active promoting the possibility of studying the Italian language at UKF. She also expressed her gratitude to the Rectorate of our university and the management of the Faculty of Arts for their cooperation in this area.

At the end of the work meeting, H.E. Mrs. Catherine Flumiani thanked the management of UKF, as well as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and the Head of the Department of Romance Languages and German Studies of the Faculty of Arts for cooperation in the field of international relations of our university with universities in Italy, as well as for supporting the possibility of studying the Italian language at UKF in Nitra. She was pleased with the information that the study of the Italian language at our Faculty of Arts continues. Mrs. Flumiani also thanked for the excellent all-day program prepared for her by UKF teachers. She expressed her belief that the cooperation between the Embassy of the Italian Republic and UKF in Nitra will continue successfully.

Another point of Mrs. Flumiani´s program at UKF was an interesting and stimulating lecture for students about diplomacy and culture and the importance of studying Italian language, that was followed by a lively discussion in which UKF students practiced their English and Italian language skills. The lecture was held under the auspices of the Rector, prof. RNDr. Libor Vozár, CSc., and it was ceremonially opened by the Vice-rector for international relations.

Text: doc. PhDr. Martina Pavlíková, PhD. – Vice-rector for international relations UKF
Photo: Bc. Lubo Balko a Mgr. Ing. Tatiana Palkovičová, R – Media Office