From the time it has been politically possible, the Institute of English and American Studies (and its predecessor, the Department of English) has always been devoted to maintain international relations that are advantageous both for the academic staff and for the students from a professional point of view. Although for a long time it was almost impossible to go beyond the Iron Curtain to do research or maintain academic contacts, some colleagues were lucky enough to gain scholarships back in the late sixties, and even some students had the opportunity to do short courses abroad from the 1980s on.
The breakthrough came with the political changes that could be felt in the late 1980s, but became more obvious from 1990 on. This is when various scholarship schemes were set up: TEMPUS by the EU (replaced by ERASMUS now), various Soros and Fulbright Grants, and other kinds of student exchange programmes like ISEP. Both the Institute of English and American Studies as an Institute and the individual students themselves have always been intent on establishing and utilising international relations.
Currently, we are involved in a number of ERASMUS and ISEP student exchange programmes, and the Fulbright programme provides the opportunity not only for our colleages and Ph.D-students to do research and gain teaching experience abroad, but also to offer a position for visiting guest lecturers to get immersed in the Hungarian teaching experience.
A most prestigious chair which IEAS hosts quite frequently is the Országh chair (for more information click here). Apart from all these, of course, our staff members often invite visiting lecturers they have contacts with either to give a talk on a special subject they are experts of, or in some cases, even to give a course. For current details, see the information on the various schemes and the Institute newsboard.