The university also instructs in Roma and Ruthenian culture and language.
Kamila Urmanicová, director of the university?s information centre, said that the institutes are not part of any department but are overseen by the rector.
?The reason for setting up the Hungarian Language and Culture Institute has been the need to research Hungarian culture and offer instruction in the language as there are more than 130,000 ethnic Hungarians and dozens of Hungarian primary and secondary schools in Eastern Slovakia,? she said.
Erzsébet Dobsony is the head of the new institute. The department will employ two senior lecturers, two assistant lecturers and one lector. In addition to local staff, two professors and a senior lecturer from Budapest?s Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) will assist at the new institute.
?The Hungarians living in Eastern Slovakia need a place which offers training in Hungarian and we have entered this cooperation effort as partners,? said ELTE rector Barna Mezey.
?The accreditation of two training programmes is under way. One of the programmes will be interpreting and translation, where Hungarian can be combined with such other languages as English, German and Ruthenian. The other programme will be teacher training at undergraduate and master level. This programme will train teachers of Hungarian language and literature,? Dobsony said.
The first students will be accepted in the institute in the 2012/2013 academic year. Around 20 students are expected in each course.
Deputy Prime Minister in charge of minorities and human rights Rudolf Chmel, of the Híd party, played a significant role in establishing the institute, offering to finance the costs in the initial period.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
