Zhang Qingyuan Grace, a Chinese PhD student at the Hungarian University of Sports Science (HUSS) could easily accommodate herself to a new world she found in Budapest, and she is proud that she has received extensive knowledge from the teachers of the university.
Zhang Qingyuan Grace, who was born in Shanghai, China, has been staying at the Hungarian University of Sports Science (HUSS), Budapest for three years now. During the first two years of her stay, she completed her master’s degree in sports coaching specialising in fencing at HUSS, and then she got admitted to HUSS’s Doctoral School in September last year where she is currently studying Decision Making in Sport and Science.
The question arises: why does someone decide to set up a new life far from her home in a completely new culture and environment? Grace has the answer.
“After finishing my BA in finance and economics at the Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance, I decided to start a new adventure. My father, a dedicated fencing coach, learned about the programme through a friend who highly recommended it. That year was the first time the programme recruited Chinese students. Despite the uncertainties ahead, they believed it was a unique and valuable opportunity. Encouraged by their confidence and support, I set out to discover this most prestigious sports university in Hungary. I think I made a good decision”, she explains.
One would think that life in Hungary is very different from the one in China, and this is basically true. This, however, did not cause any difficulties for Grace.
“I had attended a summer school in Australia earlier, so I knew what it was like to be away from my country, and meet new people from totally different cultures. I was lucky because I had two Chinese class mates from my BA studies who also came to study at HUSS, so I never felt anything like I am alone. Of course, there are differences between the two cultures, but I could easily accommodate myself to the new conditions. Budapest is a completely safe city, I could say it is ‘Chinese-friendly’. However, I have to admit that the Hungarian cuisine was a bit of a surprise for me”, she smiles.
Talking about her master studies at HUSS, she says she got the inspiration from HUSS Rector Professor Tamás Sterbenz to apply to HUSS’s Doctoral School. Dr Sterbenz taught her two subjects at the master’s course, and it was him that persuaded Grace to continue her studies, this time, however, as a PhD student.
“The teachers I have met here are absolutely helpful, cooperative and friendly, and most important of all, they possess great knowledge. I have and I am still learning a lot from them not only from a theoretical but also from a practical point of view”, she says.
Besides school, Grace tries to be socially active as much as possible. She is involved in the life of the local Chinese community, she has organised different events for the Chinese Embassy, she established a drama club in Budapest and she also works as the Deputy Secretary-General of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association in Hungary (CSSAH), which was established in 2014, two years after the signing of the mutual exchange scholarship agreement between the Chinese and the Hungarian government.
In addition, she participated in two significant sport events: the 2023 World Athletics Championships held in Budapest and the 2024 Olympic Qualities Series Budapest as a volunteer.
When asked about sport and fencing, she gets excited.
“I have come to study at HUSS because I knew that Hungarian fencing is world-famous. There are lot of experts here I can learn from, including Olympic silver medallist fencer Zsolt Nemcsik. I know that Olympic champion fencer Máté Koch also attends HUSS, once I had the chance to meet him. I also do private coaching as a part-time job because I do not want to completely drift away from fencing.”
And this brings us to our last topic. At some point in the future, she will have to decide which path to take: academic or sporting career?
“I think I want to make an academic career, that is why I am studying at the Doctoral School. For the next two years, I will definitely stay in Hungary, but then I will probably go back to China and come back again for my PhD graduation ceremony. I would like to teach at a university as a professor, and I think my fencing experience will always come handy to me.”
