The 27th Sanmarinian University Session (SUS 27) of the AIS San-Marino took place in August/September 2004 (2004-08-29 / 09-05) in the Slovakian town of Komárno on the Danube. The twin city of Komárom/Komárno formed a unit until the end of World War 1. Now the river Danube is the frontier between Hungary and Slovakia, which now are both members of the European Union.
Komárom (HU), which has better road and railway connections in to the east and west, greets travellers arriving by train in four languages: Hungarian, Slovak, German and Esperanto:
In Komárom's railway station
passengers are greeted in four languages
(Hungarian, Slovak, German, and Esperanto).
Most of the conference programme was held in ILo (Internacia Lingvo Esperanto). Introductory courses "ILo for scientists with basic knowledge 1/2" were offered at the beginning of the conference, from Friday to Sunday.
During the conference the "Free Europian University Kelemantia of AIS" (LEUKAIS) was inaugurated.
For the first time in its 20-year history AIS was able to meet in its own rooms (or rather in rooms of LEUKAIS, its local affiliate), which had been purchased only a few months before. It was like at the olympics at Athens: up to the last minute people painted, cleaned, put up gear, lockers, tables, chairs, whiteboards, projectors etc.
Two days before the inauguration the proctor's man is putting up whiteboards.
Those old new houses are located at the centre of Komárno, between the European Court (also called Europe Place) and Megye/župná street (the first is its Hungarian, the second its Slovak name), whose number 1 address they are. They'll serve not only for occasional AIS conferences but above all to the new AIS institute "Libera Eŭropia Universitato Kelemantia de AIS" (LEUKAIS, = Free Europian University Kelemantia of AIS), which will teach mainly subjects such as "Eurology" and "Intercultural Dialogue". One of the teaching languages will be the International Language Esperanto, which all students will be required to at least understand.
The session-opening Sunday, under brilliant sunshine, first saw the SUS inauguration in Komárno's Danubian Museum, with speeched from two of the LEUKAIS founding rectors, profesors Eva Poláková (SK) and Helmar Frank (DE); the third, prof. Reinhard Selten (DE), being unable to attend. MUDr. Sebők Zoltan, regional member of parliament and AIS adjunct member, also addressed the audience.
Profesors Angstl, Quednau, Frank, Poláková and
MUDr. Sebők during the inauguration at the Danubian Museum.
AIS president OProf. Helmar Frank during his speech.
After the inauguration the audience went over to the new LEUKAIS place to inaugurate the ten lecture rooms by putting up portraits of the scientists and artist they are named after. The third LEUKAIS faculty's room (on intercultural dialogue) was given the name of Leizer (Lazarus) Zamenhof, initiator of Esperanto.
LEUKAIS rector OProf. Eva Poláková lecturing
on e-learning didactics.
The programme of the following SUS week included twelve scientific courses and several individual lectures. Subjects were from five of the scientific AIS sections and ranged from programmed teaching over astronomy to concluding statistics. In parallel to this scientific programme in Esperanto there were "Summer University Weeks" with contributions from the LEUKAIS faculties. On the last two days a seminar named after Adolf Burkhardt, who had deceased a few months before, discussed issues of Christian Oecumenicity. There were also lectures on the three Mosaical religions and on the schools of Buddhism. Since Komárno, though part of Slovakia, is largely Hungarian-speaking, introductory course of Hungarian was offered, too.
Around 80 scientists and students from seventeen countries attended SUS 27. The longest way was travelled by prof. Steven Brewer from Amherst, MA, in the USA. Nineteen students were awarded an academic degree of the AIS (bachelor, master, doctor) after their final examination (consisting of a lecture on their thesis and a viva voce). These numbers rank in the top of AIS' history; for the first time there were two examination days with two boards examining in parallel.
On the final Sunday AIS president Frank and OProf. Quednau, head of the examination office, handed the successful candidated their diplomas. After this OProf. Frank solemnly opened the "Greenland Portal" conencting the LEUKAIS site to Komárno's European Court, with its houses named after and built in the styles of all European countries.
People interested in AIS conferences need not wait until SUS 28, which is planned for august 2005, since "BUS 5", an AIS conference in the Polish town of Lublin, will be opened as soon as end September 2004.
OProf. Poláková, Pennacchietti, and Frank
opening the Greenland Portal
between the LEUKAIS site and the European Court.
The house of San-Marino at the European Court.
Evening sight of the European Court.
Information on AIS conferences is constantly found on the AIS website, www.ais-sanmarino.org.
Here is the original English invitation. More information is available in Esperanto and in German.