ESN UKF Nitra

Description of the section:

ESN UKF is a newly established section in the city of Nitra, one of two sections present in here. We are not the biggest section, our average is around 50 erasmus students per year, total over 100 exchange students and the numbers slowly keep rising. As an ESN section, we provide standard service to our exchange students that consists of Buddy system as well as various activities of social, entertaining and educative character. Our section structure is as follows: on top of everything there is Board that consists of 3-5 members, then there are active members who are responsible for various projects within the section and then we have our buddies, who are associated members whose only duty is to take care of their exchange students unless they also decide to actively participate in organisation of our section activities.

History of the section:

Original idea to establish an ESN section in UKF comes from student Prokop Teper, who got in touch with ESN and values it represents during his erasmus exchange in Cyprus. He became greatly involved in local section ESN ESA Cyprus and thus he contacted International relations office of UKF with an idea to bring ESN to UKF, too. The International relations officer Ms. Butorova greatly supported this idea. During summer 2011 Prokop got in contact with Lenka Valentova and Maria Hrdlickova, who joined him in the section establishment process. The section applied for membership on National Platform Nitra in October 2011 and finally got approved, becoming the 9th section of ESN Slovakia. Ever since them ESN UKF works hard on improving and enriching life of erasmus & exchange students on UKF in Nitra.

Name of the University:

Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra- Univerzita Konštantína Filozofa v Nitre

Description of University:

Constantine the Philosopher University (UKF) is a public university founded in 1992 as the University of Education in Nitra which became a successor of Pedagogic Institute established in 1959 and Faculty of Education (1964). University of Education in Nitra has been renamed to UKF in 1996.

Over the course of time, UKF has secured its position in the Slovak higher education system while transforming itself into a university, an advanced educational and research institution meeting the criteria imposed on European university institutions.The university has defined itself as a comprehensive university with five faculties (Faculty of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Health Care, Faculty of Central European Studies, Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Education) providing education not only in traditional teacher training programmes but also in many other scientific and professional study programmes at all levels of study. UKF has an outstanding position in the region providing study programmes in education, arts, social, human and natural sciences and health care. The university has almost a 50-year long tradition in teacher-training in the Hungarian language of instruction as well as a 13-year tradition of educating social workers and missionaries for the Roma ethnicity. UKF is the only Slovak university that prepares professionals to operate in Roma communities in Nitra and other regions.The ambition of UKF is to make the study courses more flexible and challenging for its students and to respond to the vital needs of the society, while providing the applicants with different ways and forms of undergraduate, postgraduate and life-long study. By student population – more than 14,000 full-time and part-time students, UKF belongs to the larger Slovak universities.

Something about the city:

There are not so many towns endowed with such beautiful surroundings and such an ideal location as Nitra. They say that Nitra, like Rome, was founded on seven hills. Its name is connected with the beginnings of the history of Slovakia, with the names of Pribina, Svatopluk, Sts. Cyril and Methodius and even with the mention of the first Christian church on the territory of Slovakia and with the introduction of the old Slavonic alphabet. Nitra is a city in the west of Slovakia, situated at the foot of Zobor Mountain in the valley of the river Nitra. With a population of about 85 thousand inhabitants, Nitra is the fifth largest city in Slovakia. It is also a seat of a kraj (Nitra Region) and an okres (Nitra District).

Interesting projects or events:

• HellOOOooo Week
• Unity in Diversity means University
• Discover Slovakia
• Travel4V4
• SuperJuice Parties