The Rector of UPJŠ in Košice, prof. MUDr. Daniel Pella, PhD. was pleased to receive His Excellency Mr. Nigel Baker, Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice (UPJŠ) on the afternoon of 21 September 2023.
The discussions in the premises of the UPJŠ Rectorate in Košice were attended by the Rector of UPJŠ, prof. Pella, Dr. h. c. prof. Mgr. Slávka Tomaščíková, PhD. Appointed to carry out the agenda of the Vice-Rector for International Relations, His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Slovak Republic Mr. Nigel Baker and Dr. Pavol Demeš, foreign policy analyst at The German Marshall Fund, a major American NGO. Ambassador Baker expressed interest in the growing number of students from the United Kingdom studying at the Faculty of Medicine at UPJŠ and in the long-term cooperation of UPJŠ departments with the universities of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
“The information about the upcoming schemes to support science, research and mobility opportunities for universities in Slovakia, which the Ambassador shared, is very positive news also for UPJŠ, and at the same time it is a guarantee of the continuation of intensive scientific, research and pedagogical cooperation between UPJŠ workplaces and partner universities in the United Kingdom, which has a long tradition at both the institutional and individual levels,” said Vice-Rector Tomaščíková.
After a joint meeting with the UPJŠ management, the Ambassador attended the launch of Pavol Demeš’s new book Slovakia and the United Kingdom with the subtitle The First 30 Years, which was organized for its students by the Department of British and American Studies of the Faculty of Arts at UPJŠ in Košice in the Kostlivý Auditorium on the faculty campus. The bilingual publication, the first of its kind, maps the development of Slovak-British relations in modern history. It was published on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the author of the publication offers a precise summing up of them.
“At Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, the UK Ambassador to Slovakia Nigel Baker and I had a discussion with students and teachers about relations between our countries and the dilemmas of pre-election Slovakia. At the same time, we presented my bilingual book on Slovak-British relations. The hall was crowded and charged with energy. I haven’t felt so good in academia for a long time,” said Pavol Demeš, commenting on the launch of his book.
More about the author:
Pavol Demeš is an internationally recognized leader of non-governmental organizations based in Bratislava, civic activist, former Minister of International Relations of the Slovak Republic, co-founder of SAIA-SCTS for the third sector, photographer and political analyst. He entered public life after the Velvet Revolution, from 1990 he worked at the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic as Director of the Department of International Cooperation, in 1991 – 1992 as Minister of International Relations of the Slovak Republic, in 1990 he founded the Slovak Academic Information Agency (SAIA) and was its director until 2000. In the period 1993 – 1997 he was an advisor to the President of the Slovak Republic for foreign policy. Since 2000 he has been working in the major American NGO The German Marshall Fund, until 2010 as Director for Central and Eastern Europe based in Bratislava. Currently he is an analyst (senior transatlantic fellow) for them. He has accumulated professional experience in a number of popular articles, professional studies and book publications focused on the field of international relations.
The Publication of Pavol Demeš: Slovakia and the United Kingdom
