February 16, 2015
Former AUCA graduates and now CEU Master Students are among the few to have a chance to meet their former university President while still studying at Central European University. Every year there are at least three to five students from AUCA attend this higher educational institution and already by now the strong image of our students’ academic performance is well coined and recognized. President Andrew Wachtel was in Budapest for the conference on 16th December and on this occasion he had a chance to meet the current students from Central Asia.
Students were especially interested about the developments of new university campus and about the dates of its completion. The current political situation concerning the new appointments at ministry of education and its consequences on overall education in Kyrgyzstan were also touched upon. Moreover, students were eager to know the outcomes of George Soros visit to AUCA: the new plans and perspectives for Kyrgyzstan and AUCA.
CEU Provost and Pro-Rector Liviu Matei was also present at the meeting and we had an opportunity to discuss the university life at CEU and ask questions about the ongoing construction of CEU campus redevelopments which supposed to be completed in five years from now, as a part of a new strategic plan to strengthen the University. Students come from varying programs at CEU and among them are History, Economics, Economic Policy, Legal Studies, Anthropology and Sociology, Political Science, International Relations and Gender Studies.
Overall the meeting was very satisfactory and students got answers to most of their questions. AUCA current professor, Medet Tiulegenov had participated in the meeting as well. As the event was coming to an end, President Andrew Wachtel wished to all master students a good completion of final exams and papers and encouraged everyone to return back after successfully obtaining a master degree qualification. On their part students expressed their gratitude to the president and wished him to continue the great job with modernizing the university and look forward for more meetings at such occasions.
Author: Amangeldi Dzhumabaev, AUCA Alumnus 2014
CEU, History Department