Prof. MUDr. Daniel Pella, PhD., Rector of the University, Dr. h. c. prof. Mgr. Slávka Tomaščíková, PhD., Vice-Rector for International Relations, and Mgr. Július Rozenfeld, PhD., Assistant Professor from the Department of British and American Studies at the Faculty of Arts at UPJŠ, represented our university at the NAFSA 2025 Annual Conference & Expo in San Diego, California.
The NAFSA 2025 Annual Conference & Expo took place from 27 to 30 May 2025, and representatives of our university held more than 30 bilateral meetings with representatives of universities from the USA, Peru, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, India, Morocco, Scotland, Ireland, and Romania.
The NAFSA 2025 Annual Conference & Expo International Fair was attended by approximately 20,000 representatives of universities, government agencies, and non-profit organizations from more than 100 countries around the world. Participants had a unique opportunity to establish new international partnerships, obtain up-to-date information on trends and innovations in international education, expand their professional contacts, and exchange experiences with experts from around the world.
Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice was part of a delegation of 17 Slovak universities. The delegation from Slovakia was led by Tomáš Drucker, Minister of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic, and Róbert Zsember, State Secretary for Higher Education and Academic Research.
As stated by Tomáš Drucker, “It is at this university fair that the most important and largest partnerships are established. Last year has also proven to be beneficial – many schools created mutual internships or research programs. But above all, we are succeeding in raising awareness of our universities and are beginning to be more respected.”
The representation of Slovak universities at the NAFSA 2025 fair was organized by the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic and financed through the call for proposals of the Slovak Republic’s Recovery and Resilience Plan “Support for projects promoting universities abroad” with the aim to:
➔ raise the profile of Slovakia in the field of higher education and strengthen international ties and academic cooperation
➔ involve Slovak institutions in global academic events, strengthen their internationalization, and increase their competitiveness
➔ attract and retain talented students in the Slovak Republic
“The participation of representatives of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice at NAFSA 2025 enabled the continuation of academic dialogue with partners from previous international fairs APAIE 2024, NAFSA 2024, EAIE 2024, and APAIE 2025. Among other things, this resulted in the signing of a memorandum of cooperation with Manav Rachna University in India and Lingnan University in Hong Kong, which in both cases covers cooperation in biomedical research, medicine, pedagogy, and cultural studies, as well as the expansion of existing cooperation with West University of Timisoara and the Technical University of Timisoara in Romania in the Erasmus+ program,” said Vice-Rector prof. Slávka Tomaščíková.
She added that, in addition to establishing new contacts with the University of Roehampton in the United Kingdom, the University of Cork in Ireland, and the Centre for Intercultural Education in Morocco, specific fields for scientific and research cooperation with several American universities had been identified, namely Boise State University, the University of Maryland, and Ball State University. “We visited the University of California campus in Irvine, where we were inspired by the activities of the Institute for Continuing Education, and accompanied by UPJŠ graduate Professor Martin Marsal, the Rector Prof. Pella met with researchers from the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and toured the prestigious SCRIPPS biomedical laboratories in San Diego,” added the Vice-Rector.
More info: https://www.nafsa.org/
