Speech by Ildiko Orosz at the opening ceremony of the new academic year at the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education

Dear church and secular dignitaries, dear guests, colleagues, first-year and senior students!

First of all, I would like to thank to those we have awarded today for their help. Their work was essential for us to be here now. These are individuals who have added maximum efforts to their field, which has made the world a better place, because we are instruments of divine action. As Kazinczy said, “this is a small part of the whole.” This is how our institute develops. Thanks to the activities and work of many people, we have been able to work, support the institute and provide students with the opportunity to study for the past 25 years. This is especially true for newcomers, who now feel that this year they have won everything they could. I felt the same way when I graduated high school. After all, when you take the final exams in 6-7 subjects, it seems to you that you know everything about the world. This is the time when we feel that the sea is knee-deep and no matter what happens, we can overcome it. Over time, our knowledge deepens, and we realize that this is not the case. Because we don’t know everything we need to know, and the world is getting bigger. As Tibor Misovicz said, “what they gain here as knowledge will disappear in an instant.” I taught the vice-rectors that if they do not update their diplomas in 5 years, the knowledge will disappear. Now I have to say it’s too much time. In the fast-paced information world, even one year is a long time, we forget a lot in a year. Now the older generation is surprised that they do not understand what their grandchildren are playing. Therefore, from what they once learned, only the knowledge of how to live in this world remains. You have to study not in order to have a degree, you have to learn and fight to overcome your own limitations and problems that you will face, because there will be a lot of them. This will be the case with all exams. How you perceive them will have an impact on overcoming life’s difficulties in the future. We just keep an honest mirror in front of you at the exams. If we didn’t, you would be unsure throughout your life about what you know and what you don’t know, and whether you can move on. This is an institution where, in addition to a diploma, you can find a husband, wife, life partner and friendships. If you don’t believe it, ask the teachers who went through it. It is also part of our institution.

Special greetings to those who returned to us. They already deserve to be dressed in kuruc clothes with silver embroidery. This means that they received a diploma from us last year. I would advise them not to stop here. Get more diplomas. He who knows as much as possible has a wider field of vision and can look at the world from above. And if you look at life from above, you will not get lost in the details, but will be able to explore it completely. And this is very necessary in today’s world, where we live from minute to minute. After all, many of us don’t even read to the end of the article, because if we read the first sentence, we think that’s all it says, and then we open it and realise this is not the case. It is important for a person to be careful, and understand the relationships, not just the surface. If we see only the surface, we can get lost. Of course, when you are young, you can be rebels, pioneers, you can ask questions, and I even encourage you to ask questions. Each generation has its own task. At one time we worked to find that task, too.

Therefore, I would like to pass on to you the thoughts of Laszlo Gyula Erdelyi, to put them on your shoulders, so that you can reflect on them and to accompany you in the years to come and throughout life: „A smart person learns from the errors and experiences of other people, brings good into this world due to their own experience and everything they received, inherited from previous generations.” It is a public duty of all generations. Yours too. I wish you good luck with the implementation!

Berehove, September 24, 2021

Ildikó Orosz,
President of the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education