University of Tokaj
The intellectual foundations and working environment for the University of Tokaj are provided by the nearly 500-year-old Sárospatak Reformed College founded in 1531. In the 17th century the generous patronage and organising efforts of princess consort Zsuzsanna Lorántffy strengthened the school spirit which was cemented by John Amos Comenius, the leading pedagogue of the age she invited to Sárospatak. The teacher training college opened as an independent branch of the College on 17th November 1857. It was the state teacher training college. The minister for religion and public education gave its governance back to the Tiszáninnen Reformed Diocese on 30th June 1929, and it was returned to the state on 20th June 1950. From 25th June 1957 the institution was called Comenius Amos János State Institute of Sárospatak Teacher Training.
On 1 August 2021 the University of Tokaj was established at the excellent Sárospatak Comenius Campus, formerly of the Eszterházy Károly University. It is run by the University of Tokaj Foundation.
The University’s target system:
- It carries out a wide range of educational, academic and public education activities to restore the once outstanding international intellectual, religious, cultural history, political and economic role of the Tokaj-Hegyalja and the neighbouring regions of Zemplén and Abaúj, and for the development of the Tokaj grape and wine culture known throughout the world.
- To provide the society with well-educated, highly qualified professionals with higher education qualifications who are good at theory and in practice thanks to their education and further training. Thus, the University also assists in helping retain the population of the region, in increasing its level of education and training and the happiness of those working here.
- To assist the contemporary synthesis of Sárospatak’s 500-year educational tradition of Comenius and Tokaji wine culture in cooperation with the region’s education, academic, economic and local council figures.
- As the region’s centre of learning, through its courses it will integrate the aspirations of the practitioners of academic disciplines affected by its trainings and links them into the mainstream of domestic and international academia.
- As a centre of knowledge, it contributes to the region’s sustainable development, to strengthening the society and economic competitiveness and to increasing its cultural, academic and tourist appeal.
- Within the framework of the social role the University undertakes, it cooperates in initiating and implementing educational and research programs, cultural, artistic and academic events, and in exploiting their synergistic effects.