Teaching Hungarian language and culture at the University of Szeged (originally called József Attila University) was initiated by Professor Lou Elteto in 1971 when students from Portland State University (Oregon, USA) came here to spend their ‘study abroad’ year. We have come a long way since then. Since that time we have developed various academic and cultural programs with several partner institutions and have hosted over two thousand international students from over fifty countries. In 1992 under the Chair Professor György E. Szőnyi, Hungarian Studies started a specialization which eventually became the BA specialization, and then added the MA program in 2009 for students interested in becoming professional representatives of Hungarian Studies.