I’m most pleased to be present at the opening of this conference. The exchange of views on various aspects of American and Hungarian life between Hungarian and American students in the coming three days is the final stage of a two-year project between ELTE Teacher Training College and Rutgers University, New Jersey. Since the changes in 1989 cultural exchanges between Hungary and western countries have seen an unprecedented growth both in quantity and quality. Institutional co-operation between universities and the internationalization of campuses are high priorities for Hungarian higher education. The present project is an excellent example of how understanding between diverse cultures and nations can be realised.

The core idea of this ongoing project is a virtual community which has been set up from Hungarian and American students who collaborate on joint projects and communicate with each other through the internet. At this point I would like to emphasise the innovative character of this project, namely that it utilizes the opportunities the Internet provides for establishing new forms of intercultural communication.

The novelty of this form of academic cultural exchange is fourfold:

- the number of participants is considerably higher than in traditional forms of exchange (the number of students who have participated in this project exceeds 80)

- it makes cultural exchanges more diverse by involving students at undergraduate level

- it uses the comparative method as a way of learning about the other culture

- it makes co-operation between the students interactive by using the Discussion Forum on the webpage of the project for real-time communication.

The participating students during these three days will give presentations on various Hungarian-American issues and discuss them in the form of a round-table conference. The importance of these exchanges is not necessarily their academic value but the fact that peer groups can communicate and learn from each other’s experience.

The success of the Fulbright project and thus the co-operation between ELTE and Rutgers leads me to conclude that this form of cultural exchange can serve as a working model for cultural awareness programs.
The gains from participating in similar projects are numerous:
o students become more open not only to American or Hungarian culture but to other cultures

o they become more aware and sometimes more critical of their own culture

o they learn to be more empathetic with other groups of people and more tolerant of differing views

o they view the other culture as less exotic than before, thus they learn to be less stereotypical in their thinking

The achievements of this project have proved that links between universities are useful and necessary in preparing students to cope with challenges in the international arena. Such intercultural experiences supplement their academic performance and provide them with a knowledge that neither written sources nor the media can supply. I am convinced that similar co-operation between Hungarian universities and universities in EU countries and the USA are of utmost importance and should be promoted by all necessary means.

Thank you for your attention.