The Balassi Institute will take over the activities of the Hungarian Cultural Institute, the Directorate of Cultural Institutes Abroad and the Áron Márton Professional College, Hiller said. Additionally, the institute will oversee academic exchanges, the Hungarian Scholarship Committee and the International Scholarship Forum, he said.
The institute, which will be indirectly overseen by the Ministry of Education and Culture, will operate with a sizable budget of nearly HUF 4.9 billion in 2007.
Lauter noted that Hungary's cultural institutes abroad would remain independent budgetary units, with a combined HUF 2.8 billion available to them.
Director Éva Lauter
Éva Lauter, the Balassi Institute's director, said that the organisation's professional activities would be carried out by the International Relations Directorate, headed by the historian and associate professor Sándor Csernus. The directorate will be in charge of the network of Hungarian cultural institutes abroad as well as guest lecturers.
The Educational Directorate will be headed by the linguist and academic László Gremsperger. Its tasks include training for Hungarian as a foreign language as well as assisting ethnic Hungarians from abroad and foreign students arriving in Hungary.
The Sponsorship Management Directorate will be headed by associate professor György Pálfi. The directorate will oversee all applications for scholarships offered by the institute's three predecessors. The directorate will also deal with public education and development tasks beyond Hungary's borders.
The Áron Márton Professional College Directorate will be headed by the history and education teacher István Fejes. The directorate will function as a student centre for the Carpathian Basin, granting scholarships and offering other educational opportunities to ethnic Hungarians living outside of Hungary's borders as well as to other foreign students.
The Balassi Institute's predecessors had a combined staff of 347, but this number has been cut to 290 as a result of the merger.
Explaining the choice of name for the institute, Lauter said, "Bálint Balassi was an emblematic figure who symbolises the fact that certain values required for survival can be found even in difficult periods. These values are one's mother tongue, education and culture."
