Content beyond Vocational Skills

The goals of this paper are to reveal the process of institutional effects in higher education and to identify those components that can be classified as being beyond vocational skills. The topicality of this analysis is embedded in the transformation of universities, which can create a new framework for students’ socialization process. Two different methods were used during our research: a questionnaire with students (N = 1502) on a nationwide sample in Hungary and 31 interviews with lecturers. According to our empirical findings, the effects of higher education are very complex, and vocational elements are not the only content that is transmitted. Students can perceive the components of moral effects ata high level, and general knowledge has acquired great importance, too. With the help of the lecturers’ interviews, we can identify the most important aims of the teaching process, which extend beyond the vocational elements, and at the same time, the barriers to and possibilities offered by this transmission.

Economic and Higher Education Partnership of Hungary and Kazakhstan

The aim of our research was to describe, compare, and analyze the development of business and educational co-operation between Kazakhstan and Hungary over the past 19 years. The research was prompted by the university-level co-operation between the two countries that star ted in 2018, which was made possible by the strategic partnership that is the topic of the present article. We started from the hypothesis that both business and educational co-operation has developed linearly and significantly during the last 19 years. Our research methodology was based on gathering and analyzing secondary macroeconomic, trade, and educational co-operation data in the period between 2011 and 2020. The data were obtained from publications, national offices (statistical, commerce, and education), and international bodies (like TempusPublic Foundation, Eurostat, International Monetary Fund [IMF], and the World Bank). In this paper, we intend to link the main political, social, and macroeconomic endowments with business and educational developments of partnership in the two countries, trying to map out prospects for co-operation. One conclusion is that, although in the political communications of the two countries we were able to identify significant governmental efforts on both sides to support and enforce economic and educational co-operation, the data indicate a decrease in the size of business investments. At the same time, however, the educational co-operation between the two parties continues to develop further.

Book Reviewing Old Beginnings: Marjorie Watts' P.E.N. The Early Years 1921-1926

This review of a 1971 book is meant to invite readers to reflect on the role P.E.N. International—a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote literature and intellectual co-operation among writers—might have given the increasing challenges in our contemporary society. Describing the beginnings of the organization, the book marked P.E.N.’s Golden Jubilee. Therefore, I felt it appropriate to discuss some of the issues it addressed—that is, socializing vs. political activism—as this year, P.E.N. International turned 100.

Book Review. Győrfi Dénes’s Bibliotheca Universitatis Claudiopolitanae. Evoluția instituțională și practici ale lecturii în Clujul Universitar

This book review is presenting a published PhD thesis concerning the history of the library of the university of Cluj, from its foundation until 1945. The book is dealing with three distiguishable periods, the 1872–1918 period, during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy; the period of 1918-1940, the era of the Great Romania, and the third period is represented by the years of World War II. Based on a rich bibliography, the author is following the major processes concerning the institutional management of the library.

Book Review. Uricska Erna’s COVIDICTIONARY: Words and Phrases Related to the Global Pandemic

This unique work in its subject matter, genre and language was prepared during the first wave of the coronavirus epidemic. The theoretical background of the author’s research work is perfectly adjusted to Patyi’s “university triangle” model (“Nemzeti Közszolgálati Egyetem, Intézményfejlesztési Terv 2015–2020,” n.d.), which basically illustrates the functioning of a university in a triple system of the activities “research—education—curriculum development,” and Paavola and Hakkarainen’s trialogical model (2005), which—through the competence of cooperation—provides an opportunity todevelop students’ creativity, to keep their motivation at a high level, to develop competencies required by the labour market, and to implement experiential teaching–learning. A questionnaire survey was used with closed and open questions among students who have been learning English for law enforcement at the University of Public ServiceFaculty of Law Enforcement (hereinafter: UPS FLE) using the corpus-based dictionary method. The author’s acquaintances registered on Facebook social media platform were also involved in the research. The 96-page collection of words and phrases based on the theoretical background involves 403 English words, word phrases, neologisms and their definitions related to the coronavirus epidemic and COVID-19 situation during the first wave.

The Augmentation of Digital Violence during COVID-19

The abrupt onset of the COVID -19 pandemic brought devastating consequences to society as we know it. Connected to the obvious medical, societal, and economic changes, the pandemic also ushered in a world of isolation. Within this world, both media and violence are connected to imposed quarantine and confinement. During the pandemic, many studies indicated the rise of gender-based violence. For example, Mittal and Singh (2020) study the rise of quarantine violence in India. Equally disturbing is the rise of gender-based violence in digital spaces. Anon-IB is an image-based discussion board where anonymous images are posted. However, the board has become a hotbed for revenge porn and incel activity. Dutch police shut the site down in April 2018 (Vaas, 2018), but during the pandemic Anon-IB was able to find loopholes to restart itself. Users can also post headshots of a woman on the site and then ask for “wins,” which translates into nude photos. Anon-IB is location-based, and users often ask for photos of women in the surrounding area. The site also reaches aninternational audience. One example is a past thread from The University of Georgia in Tbilisi, Georgia. This paper discusses the rise of extreme online violence and revenge porn during the pandemic through a discourse analysis of Anon-IB. A discussion of incel culture will also be discussed, using the work of O’Malley et al. (2020) and others as a framework to discuss the internet’s role in ideological extremism and violence.

The Contemporary Significance of the Early Accounting Teaching Methods

In the light of global trends, economic operators cannot withstand change. At first, computer-driven technologies replaced only routine tasks, which were easily programmed using algorithms. However, as a result of technological development, artificial intelligence, machine learning, the internet and big data, machines have acquired an understanding of non-routine tasks. They have become autonomous, and are now capable of solving more and more complex tasks.The job opportunities offered by the new digitalized world ask for new competencies developed by the education system. Our research examines 20 th-century teaching methods based on final exams made public, then compares and contrasts them to 21 st-century teaching materials and examination methods. One of the significantobservations is that between 1900 and 1918, the final exam in mathematics contained only word problems. The majority of the 223 problems available, 57 by number, focused on “capital, interest, benefit, loan, sales and purchase.” The wording of the problemsreflects the (actual) problems and events of the time. Although case studies are still present, most problems are the “calculate, solve, circle, underline” type. Example problems are often provided; thus, problem-solving turns into a routine task. The earlier method yet based on word problems inspired by our everyday economic reality might prove helpful in developing problem-solving skills, in reducing reading comprehension difficulties present at all levels of education as well as in indirectly raising awareness of today’s environmental, personal finance, issues.

Private Sphere in the Age of Digital Communication

Examining the interpretations on the “U.S. observation case,” I am trying to answer the question of which contemporary theory may serve as the adequate context for telling the story of the birth of our right to privacy and the modern power structures endeavoring to oppress this right. Relying on the relevant literature, I have attempted to reconstruct twopossible theories in light of the strength of the relationship between privacy and power: the paradigm rooted in the sociology of work; and one judicial approach based on human dignity. The analysis of the two privacy paradigms in contrast with each other highlights their advantages and disadvantages. I also attempt to outline normative points of viewrelevant when analyzing the relationship between power and privacy in the digital age.

Book Review. Alex Broom and Katherine Kenny’s Survivorship: A Sociology of Cancer in Everyday Life

Cancer has become the second largest cause of death and a central concern in modern societies. Despite increasing survival rates, there is hardly a family that is not directly engaged with the fight against cancer. The brand new book Survivorship: A Sociology of Cancer in Everyday Life (appeared as recently as March 2021) approaches the phenomenonfrom the the perspective of everyday lives of survivors, their micro-social networks, and health care professionals. Authored by Alex Broom and Katherine Kenny, sociologists from the University of Sydney, and elaborated with a range of qualitative methods, the chapters of the book address issues of social norms, individual tensions of survivors, and emotional approaches to survivorship.

Kindergarten and School Social Assistance During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Hungary

In this paper, we have analyzed the results obtained in the third year of our longitudinal research (2018–2020) regarding the work of kindergarten and school social workers, research conducted in connection with the Hungarian Educational Research Association. The service provided by kindergarten and school social workers was made generally available in Hungary by a legislation change implemented in 2018. By the end of the school year 2018/2019, after initial difficulties, we noticed a positive change in the supportive attitude and acceptance of teachers and public educational institutions towards the work of kindergarten and school social workers. We confirmed an increase in connections to fellow professions as well as in the level of mutual initiative (Homoki & Czinderi, 2020). The continuous development of the service and the reinforcement of professionals is essential as there is a high degree of fluctuation at the national level (Sinka, 2019), even more increased by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, posing unprecedented challenges for actors in public educational institutions. Based on our qualitative data obtained by a focus group interview, we have shown how social workers in different types of settlements and educational institutions of the country (N = 13) were ableto adapt to the crisis. What was the degree of fluctuation? What kind of challenges did they face, and what types of resources were they able to mobilize during the online education in the first and second waves of the pandemic? Our data show a shift in priorities at the individual, group, and community levels of social work.