Professor Dénes Koltai passed away

News
Professor Dénes Koltai

The former Dean and Vice-Rector of the University of Pécs in Hungary died much too early in his 75th year after a distinguished academic career and beyond. His early interest was community development in rural and urban areas and he enjoyed teaching and research for a small department in the University. He then realized that with the system change around the 1990s the professional training of those working in cultural houses, in the emerging civil society sector, folk high schools and related areas would be in need of new knowledge and skills, attitudes and values.

Step by step he developed a model of further training and capacity building in three fields: adult education, vocational training and cultural management in two directions – for regular students and those coming for university continuing education and later embedded in the BA and MA structure of the Bologna reform of higher education. He created a consortium with other colleges and universities in Hungary where these courses were taught and the respective curricula and materials from the University of Pécs being used. Actually at that time he was a forerunner of blended learning with face-to-face lectures and seminars, teaching and learning books, videos and a dedicated webpage. In the process the Department grew steadily and became an Institute and later a Faculty of Adult Education and Human Resource Development.

In 2008 Professor Koltai was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame and this is where you can find information why this decision was taken.   It was at the time when the European Pre-Conference for CONFINTEA VI was held in Budapest, and the induction as a joint event. He was on the National Delegation coming for CONFINTEA V to Hamburg, representing the Adult Education Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

We first met in 1996 when I became Director of the DVV International Office for Hungary and ever since we could do so many things together as I joined the University of Pécs as Honorary Professor. In 1997 we edited the book Adult Education for the Future – the Future of Adult Education. Later in 2003 DVV International published his study Theoretical, Economic and Regional Issues of Adult Education. Hungarian Developments in an International Perspective. On his retirement an extended commemorative volume was published comprising contributions from some 35 colleagues who shared their work. I combined a reflection on current global developments in education with joint collaborative efforts titles Towards Lifelong Learning for All. A Developmental Journey, Looking at Cooperation and Exchange with Denes Koltai, Having Short Visits to Ideas and Ideals around Confucius, Socrates, Erasmus, Comenius, Marx, Grundtvig – and not Forgetting Sisyphus. For those interested further I attach the respective PDF.

Professor Koltai had what we may call an enabling character. He nurtured professional relationships and allowed people to grow close to him. Many of his former students or younger colleagues have now taken over and established themselves, like Professor Balázs Németh who is the Associated Director of PASCAL in Europe and President of EUCEN, the European University Continuing Education Network, or Prof. Eva Farkas who teaches in the Doctoral School of the University of Szeged. When we exchanged about Dénes a few days ago she wrote:

You know his death is a great loss for me personally. He was my teacher at the University of Pécs, and when I was starting my career, he was my professional mentor, and I worked in his faculty. I learned a lot from him about the adult education profession, about human relations, about humility and commitment to the profession. I owe him so much. And the whole adult education profession owes him so much. He was tireless and a great fighter. So I'm sure that he is working to renew and run adult education also in Heaven. We will cherish his memory in our hearts for a long time.

The city of Pécs is only some 50 miles away from the Serbian border, and I recall travelling together with Professor Koltai to meet colleagues and deepen the longstanding relationship with the University of Belgrade. Yesterday Professor Katarina Popovic, at the same time Secretary General of the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) shared:

He was a great man, one of the giants in the history of adult education on whose shoulders we stand. He made University of Pécs and Hungary to important places on the map of European adult education.

 

 

 

Author: