Átlépés a határokon: Az AFS diákcsereprogram múltja és jövője = Crossing borders: The past and future of the AFS student exchange programme

Abstract

Authors: Zsolt István Vódli - Katalin Kéri | Title: Crossing borders: The past and future of the AFS student exchange programme | Publisher: Civil Szemle (ISSN 1786-3341), 2022/1. pp. 71-80 | WoS number: WOS:000802078000005 --- The field of intercultural education has a long history. Looking back thousands of years, there is a long tradition of families or religious communities sending students and young people to study far away from their local schools, even to different countries and parts of the world. This practice was motivated by various reasons and purposes in different periods and places. The study presents the history and operation of an international organisation that has been operating in Hungary for several decades: AFS (American Field Service, originally AAFS: American Ambulance Field Service). AFS is a non-profit, non-governmental, non-religious body that supports intercultural education, learning about each other’s cultural values and traditions, developing global competencies and – through all of this – contributing to the overarching goal of a more peaceful future. It is currently the world’s largest and oldest student exchange programme. Looking back on a past of more than 100 years, this volunteer organisation originally had its roots in providing aid during wartime. Since 1947, it has focused on organising student exchange programmes and has great potential for the future. Keywords: AFS; intercultural education; student exchange programme; democratic education; development of cooperative and global competencies. | Zsolt István Vódli teacher of Fáy András SZC in Sopron. He holds an MA in History, Hungarian Grammar and Literature, English Language and Culture from University of Miskolc. He also graduated from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), and he holds an MA in Media and Film Studies. He teaches History in English, Hungarian Grammar, Literature and Social History. He was the chapter president of AFS Sopron from 2013–2016, and the member of the Hungarian National Board from 2018–2020. He organized several lectures and programs on the Holocaust and Human Rights. He is a member of the Centropa Advisory Board in Hungary. As a representative of the Hungarian History Teachers’ Association (TTE) he works with Euroclio. His speciality is ‘Onsite Learning’. He organizes field trips to well-known historic sites of Central Europe (Auschwitz, Mauthausen, Hartheim, Kraków, Warszawa, Zagreb, Belgrade, Sarajevo etc.) and Western Europe (Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels, Nürnberg etc.). E-mail: vodli.zsolt@gmail.com | Katalin Kéri Prof. Dr. was born in 1966. Nowadays she is full professor at University of Sopron (SOE) and Pécs (PTE) and at J. Selye University of Komárno, Slovakia. The member of various national and international scientific societies and editorial staff, for example from 2012 she is the member of Scientific Committee for Pedagogy, from 2016 of Committee for Women’s History at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. She has extensive international connections, especially in Spain, France, Chile and Brazil. Her teaching and research work has been recognized with many awards in Hungary. She has been a visiting professor several times at the University of Salamanca and Rouen and has attended various conferences. Main research topics: Women’s history in Hungary (18th and 19th century); Representation of the History of Non-Western education in the European sources (19th century); Medieval history of Islamic education; History of childhood in Hungary (1950s years). E-mail address: kerik@ujs.sk; keri.katalin@uni-sopron.hu; keri.katalin@pte.hu