New Confucius Institute Opens at Széchenyi István University in Győr

The opening ceremony of the Confucius Institute at Széchenyi István University (SZE) was held in Győr on 23 January. The event was attended by more than 100 guests, including Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Gong Tao, Ambassador Extraor-dinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to Hungary; Han Dongsheng, Education Counsellor at the Chinese Embassy; senior representatives of Jiaxing University and Széchenyi István University; and representatives of Chinese and Hungarian companies.

The ELTE Confucius Institute was represented by Professor Imre Hamar, Director of the Ins-titute, Rector’s Commissioner for Asian Affairs at ELTE and Corresponding Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; Dr Li Denggui, Chinese Director of the ELTE Confucius Institute; and Anna Csikó, Deputy Director of the ELTE Confucius Institute.

In his address, Ambassador Gong Tao reviewed the achievements of Chinese–Hungarian eco-nomic and trade cooperation in recent years. He expressed the hope that the Confucius Insti-tute at Széchenyi István University would promote educational and industrial cooperation between China and Hungary by building on its distinctive strengths in the fields of “Chinese language and new technologies” and by supporting the integrated development of industry, academia, research and practical application.

Minister Péter Szijjártó stated that Hungary remained committed to strengthening its compre-hensive cooperation with China. He expressed the hope that, through the integration of in-dustry, academia and research, the SZE Confucius Institute would focus on talent develop-ment and provide fresh impetus for Chinese–Hungarian educational exchanges and economic and trade cooperation.

For many years, the Chinese language teaching centre at Széchenyi István University operated as an affiliated teaching centre of the Confucius Institute at ELTE. The high level of expertise and outstanding teaching quality demonstrated by successive generations of instructors laid a solid foundation for the formal establishment of an independent institute. In preparation for the opening, the teaching centre steadily expanded its student numbers, enrolling more than 140 university students and adult learners in 2025.

Before the opening ceremony, a delegation from the ELTE Confucius Institute paid a special visit to the teaching centre to greet its current instructor, Ms Zhao Lijun, and hear a report on her work. Professor Imre Hamar expressed his sincere gratitude to Ms Zhao and all previous instructors for their contribution to Chinese-language education and the promotion of Chinese culture.

With the opening of the new institute at Széchenyi István University in Győr, Hungary is now home to seven Confucius Institutes.

Confucius Institute - Budapest, Hungary

New Confucius Institute Opens at Széchenyi István University in Győr

2026. January 23.

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