University of Szeged

The University of Szeged is one of the most distinguished universities in Hungary. It is located in the southern Hungarian town, Szeged. In Hungarian, its name is Szegedi Tudományegyetem, in Latin, Universitas Scientiarum Szegediensis.

According to the Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai University (2003 and 2004), it was qualified as the best university in Hungary (201st in the complete list, in tie). It was ranked 77th at the scientific ranking of European universities.

General information

The city of Szeged has 62 kindergartens, 32 elementary schools, 18 high schools and a university, which has been established by the unification of the past existing higher education centers. The two most prominent high schools (Ságvári Endre Gyakorló Gimnázium and Radnóti Endre Gimnázium) are among the fifteen best in the country. Szeged is the higher education center of southern Hungary and has built quite a reputation for itself. Thousands of Hungarian students study here, many of whom are foreign students from all around the world. The Center for Biological Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which was built with the help of UNESCO funds, has also been a considerable source of advanced research. Scientists at this laboratory were first in the world to produce artificial heredity material in the year 2000. The building has served as a home to many well known conferences and will continue to make contributions to the world of science.

History

Historians find its predecessor in title the Kolozsvári Egyetem (University of today's Cluj-Napoca), founded in 1872 (by Franz Joseph), which had to move to Hungary in 1921, and was restarted in Szeged.

Among its teachers were Albert Szent-Györgyi, one of the founders of the Faculty of Science, who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937 for his discoveries in connection with vitamin C.

History of education in Szeged

After the Great Flood the citizens of Szeged took steps on several occasions with a view to establishing an institution of higher education in Szeged. These efforts did not bear fruit until 1921 when the University of Kolozsvár (founded in 1872) moved to Szeged. This move was occasioned by the conclusion of World War I when the Trianon Peace Treaty changed the rule in Transylvania and ceded that province to Romania.

Teaching at the University started on October 10, 1921. The town made considerable efforts to ensure suitable conditions for the new university. The new buildings constructed on the Szeged bank of the Tisza river between 1924 and 1930 housed first of all the clinics and the institutes of the Medical School. Other attractive buildings surrounding the new Cathedral were given to the Faculty of Sciences and to the College of Catholic Theology. The Faculties of Law and Arts were accommodated in older buildings, originally used for other purposes.

Many outstanding professors worked at the university in the inter-war period, including Nobel Prize winner Albert Szent-Györgyi, who was the first to isolate vitamin C, extracting it from paprika. Publications under the collective title of "Acta Universitatis Szegediensis", edited at different faculties and institutes, were already winning fame for the University at that time. Much merit lies with the Society of the Friends of the University which helped towards their publication. The Medical School (now incorporated into the University of Szeged) was given the name Szent-Györgyi.

During the Second World War, in 1940, the József Ferenc University was moved back again to Kolozsvár while in Szeged, mainly with the former staff and in the old buildings, a new university was legally established. Fascist laws issued during the war had a very adverse effect on both the personnel and the financial management of the University; the institution was in a very serious situation when the Soviet troops entered Szeged on October 11, 1944.

After World War II the University of Szeged was the first in Hungary to start functioning anew. Teaching began as early as November 3, 1945. In those years Rector Frigyes Riesz, the famous mathematician, and his staff distinguished themselves in creating reliable conditions for the work of higher education.

In 1951, the Medical School was separated from the university and was established as an independent institution. In 1962 the University of Szeged assumed the name of the great Hungarian poet, Attila József, who was a student here in the 1920s. During the post-war period the University has undergone a tremendous development. Since the Medical School was separated, the departments of the remaining faculties grew from 36 to 82 by 1990. The number of students is about five times greater than those 774 who matriculated in 1945-46. A similar proportion applies to the teaching professorial staff. The number of academic staff at the University now totals 530. SZTE plays an important role in Hungarian scholarly life and our University is not only a well-reputed school but in general qualifies as a research university and in several fields prides itself as being an important international research center, too. Nine of their professors are members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

The number of the university buildings and the area they cover have also grown considerably. As has been indicated, the University of Szeged has never had a unified campus, its buildings were rather scattered in the downtown area. As the university has grown, its buildings started characterizing more and more districts of Szeged. Remarkable among the new, modern establishments is the "Peace Building", inaugurated in 1952, which was built as a harmonious addition to the red brick buildings of the Faculty of Science.

The Bolyai Institute of Mathematics occupied the former High School of the Piarist Order in 1951, right in the neighborhood of the other science departments. The completion of one wing of a planned triangular building in New Szeged - the Biology Center - further enlarged the space for natural sciences in 1974. Two years later a teacher training primary school was opened and the University's Computer Center could move into the modernized former prep school building right in the city center, halfway between the Rector's office and the Faculty of Sciences. The Faculty of Arts could grow as some natural science departments abandoned the Arts Building in Ady square; further considerable extension was provided by acquiring an office building next to the Arts Building where the departments of education, psychology, philosophy, economics and sociology found accommodation in 1978.

The Faculty of Law also gained space as in 1963-64 a new level was added to their old building. The infrastructure of the University and student life was facilitated by the construction of two large dormitories and an adjacent cafeteria in New Szeged (1966-1977). In 1986 the University purchased a large workers' hostel and turned it into a comfortable dormitory with which currently the dormitory places available amount to 950.

The 1980s did not bring major developments, the worsening economic situation demanded restricted budgets and by the end of the decade the University badly needed further physical upgrading. The turning of the decade fortunately has brought major changes. In 1989, with the changing of the political system in Hungary, the extensive infrastructure of the former Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party was redistributed and the buildings became utilized mostly for educational and medical purposes. As a result of these changes, in 1990, JATE could occupy the county headquarters of that party, a lavish seven-storey building which now houses the Financing Office and parts of the Faculty of Law. Another important project, the renovation of the Irinyi Building next to the Faculty of Sciences was completed in 1992. The old-new Irinyi will accommodate the bulk of the most needed new classrooms and lecture halls serving all three faculties. Also this building is the center of catering: three comfortable cafeterias and a charming restaurant offer good food to students and faculty. One should also mention the restructuring of the majestic central building of the University in Dugonics square. With the removal of the Financing Office, the University Library (Városi Somogyi Könyvtár - Bibliotheca Civitatis Szegedinensis de Carolo Somogyi nominata) can grow by almost one third of its original space, and also the rectors of both universities will have more comfortable offices. The central building houses the Faculty Club and the Students' Club, too. Further university facilities are the general sports ground and gymnasium in the square behind the Arts Building, a high quality tennis center in the park in New Szeged, a picturesque lodge and conference hall (once a country school now modernized) in the woods, 30 km from Szeged, and a resort house at lake Balaton.

Name of the university

• Kolozsvári Tudományegyetem (Kolozsvár 1872–1881);
• Ferenc József Tudományegyetem (Kolozsvár 1881–1919);
• Ferenc József Tudományegyetem (Budapest 1919–1921);
• Ferenc József Tudományegyetem (Szeged 1921–1940);
• Ferenc József Tudományegyetem (Kolozsvár 1940–1945);
• Szegedi Tudományegyetem (Szeged 1945–1962);
• József Attila Tudományegyetem (Szeged 1962–1999);
• Szegedi Tudományegyetem (Szeged 2000– ).

History in brief

• 1872 - Foundation of the University of Kolozsvár.
• 1921 - The Franz Joseph University moved to Szeged.
• 1951 - The Medical School was separated from the University and was established as an independent institution.
• 1962 - The University assumed the name of Attila József (JATE).
• 2000 - Unification of institutions as the University of Szeged (SZTE).

Recent developments

The university's future has been determined by a few cardinal decisions in the past year. The leaders of the institutions of higher education in Szeged (JATE, Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical University, Gyula Juhász Teacher Training College, Ferenc Liszt College of Music, College of Catholic Theology, and the College of Food Technology and Engineering) have signed an agreement to merge these institutions into a unified, sizable center of higher education, to be called the University of Szeged. As of today the "in the past indepent" universities made up the faculties of the University of Szeged. The unification of these institutions was finished during the year 2000. Now the University of Szeged is planning to expand not only its quality of education but its facilities by the help of EU loans.

It is often said that the unification (January of 2000) of Szeged's universities has been the most successful one in Hungary. Now the University of Szeged is able to serve the students with a huge scope of educational opportunities. The Medical Faculty of the University of Szeged gives the most prestigious level of such education in entire Hungary both in Hungarian and English.

The new building not far from the city center houses a new library, computer center and lecture halls. It's name is Attila József Study and Information Center (in Hungarian József Attila Tanulmányi és Információs Központ - JATIK, pictures). The University will expand by another two faculties in the coming years.

Enrollment

Today it has almost 30,000 university students, and altogether 134 majors. Its teachers are 1,713 in number, among them there are 14 academicians, 114 academic doctors and 643 have Ph.D. degree.

Foreign students, like at other universities in Hungary, have to pay for tuition here too, while native Hungarians – under certain conditions – don't.

Organisation

It has 11 faculties:

• College Faculty of Agriculture
• College Faculty of Health Sciences
• College of Food Engineering
• Faculty of Arts
• Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
• Faculty of Law and Public Administration
• Faculty of Medicine
• Faculty of Music (Conservatory)
• Faculty of Pharmacy
• Faculty of Sciences
• Juhász Gyula Teacher Training College

Alumni, Notable persons, Professors

• István Bibó (1911-1979); political scientist; doctor's degree University of Law, Szeged, 1934; lecturer Szeged University, 1940; member Hungarian Academy of Science, 1946-49.
• Zsolt Bor (b. 1949); M.Sc, Ph.D, D.Sc, Bolyai-Prize laureate scientist; member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics; one of inventors of the Rhinolight phototherapeutical apparatus (hay fever therapy). [1], [2]
• Sándor Csörgő (b. 1947); highly cited researcher of mathematics; Probability and Mathematical Statistics, Asymptotic Theory; member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. [3]
• Gábor Fodor (1915-2000); obtained a Ph.D., summa cum laude, in organic chemistry, physical chemistry and mineralogy at Szeged University in 1937; University Demonstrator at Szeged from 1935-1938; associate professor from 1945-1950; professor of organic chemistry at Szeged from 1950-1957; received the Diamond Diploma in honor of the 60th anniversary of the receipt of his Ph.D. at the University of Szeged.
• Alfréd Haar (1885-1933); together with Riesz, made a major mathematical centre from the university; in 1932 he introduced a measure on groups, now called the Haar measure, which allows an analogue of Lebesgue integrals to be defined on locally compact topological groups.
• Attila József (1905-1937); He is considered to be one of the greatest Hungarian writers of the 20th century; entered the University of Szeged in 1924 to study Hungarian and French literature; He was expelled from the university because of a revolutionary poem, "Tiszta Szívvel" (With a Pure Heart) - the poem was attacked by the influential professor Antal Horger.
• Gyula Juhász (1883-1937); Hungarian poet, journalist, educator.
• László Kalmár (1905-1976); He is considered the founding father of both Logic and Theoretical Computer Science in Hungary.
• Elemér Pólay (1915-1988); Roman philologist, Roman law.
• Tibor Radó (1895-1965); Hungarian mathematician.
• Frigyes Riesz (1880-1956); in Szeged in 1922 Riesz set up the János Bolyai Mathematical Institute in a joint venture with Haar; became editor of the newly founded journal of the Institute Acta Scientiarum Mathematicarum [4]; his theorem, now called the Riesz-Fischer theorem, which he proved in 1907, is fundamental in the Fourier analysis of Hilbert space; He received honorary doctorates from the universities of Szeged, Budapest and Paris.
• Brúnó F. Straub (1914-1996); initiated the foundation of the Biological Research Center (1971).
• Albert Szent-Györgyi (1893-1986); Nobel-Prize laureate biochemist; in 1930 he obtained the Chair of Medical Chemistry at the University of Szeged and in 1935 he also took the Chair in Organic Chemistry; he noted the anti-scorbutic activity of ascorbic acid and discovered that paprika (capsicum annuum) was a rich source of vitamin C; he received the Nobel-Prize in medicine in 1937 "for his discoveries in connection with the biological combustion processes, with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric acid"; from 1987-2000 the Szeged Medical University bore his name. [5]
• Antal Szerb (1901-1945); Hungarian author; He was President of the Hungarian Literary Academy.
• István Tömörkény (1866-1917); He was a well known writer, archeologist and journalist; in 1882 he enrolled in the Szeged University and wanted to become a chemist; unfortunately he never finished his studies.

See also

• Scientists of the University of Szeged (in Hungarian only)
• Acta Universitatis Szegediensis
• Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical University
• János Bolyai Mathematical Institute
• List of university libraries

External links

• University Homepage (some part in English as well)
• Information in English
• University Library (Attila József Study and Information Center)
• The Somogyi Library (in English)
• Webradio - Universitas Szeged (recent news in Hungarian)
• Tiszaportal - Szegedi Egyetem Online (news in Hungarian)
• CORDIS: News service (about the Academic Ranking of World Universities)
• CEST Scientometrics Rankings (Rankings by Subfields, 1998-2002)
• Ranking Web of World Universities (webometrics)
• Szeged City Guide (source)

See also: University of Szeged, 1872, 1921, 1937, 1951, 1962, 2000, AEGEE