Central building of the University of Szeged at Dugonics
Square
The
University of Szeged is one of the most
distinguished universities in Hungary
and in
Central Europe. It is located in the
southern Hungarian town, Szeged
. In
Hungarian, it is called
Szegedi Tudományegyetem .
According
to the Academic Ranking of World
Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University
(2003, 2004, 2005), it was ranked 203-300th in the
complete list (in tie), 80-123rd at the scientific ranking of
European universities and 1st in national
ranking.
General information
"For Public Education", Ferenc Móra Museum and the archaeological
department of the University of Szeged - former Palace of
Education
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 Miklós
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
University building and the musical clock at Cathedral Square
Historians
find its predecessor in title the Kolozsvári Egyetem
(University of today's Cluj-Napoca
), founded in 1872 by Emperor Franz Joseph I., which had to move to Hungary
after the Treaty of Trianon 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.

University building at Cathedral
Square, reliefs decorating the walls were done by Béla Ohmann
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.

The Somogyi Library and Archive
Brief history
Name of the university (in Hungarian)
Setting and architecture
Cathedral Square

Bird's-eye view of the University and
the Votive Church at Cathedral Square, place of the Open-air Plays
(stages are prepared)
The Dóm
square is one of the biggest (12000 m²- about as big as Saint
Marc's square in Venice
) and most
majestic squares in all of Hungary. In 1920 all the
buildings were torn down in the vicinity, which gave way to the
square we see today's (built according to the designs of
Béla
Rerrich). The square is surrounded in a U shape by archwayed
buildings made of dark brown bricks. The buildings are shared by
the
College of Catholic Theology, the
Seat of the
Bishop, the
University and a
dorm. The reliefs decorating the walls were done by
Béla Ohmann. After the noon chimes, a
musical
clock (the work of
Ferenc Csuri, a master watchmaker)
brings all the famous figures of the University to life. 86 statues
line the walls of the archways, which reminds us of the past's
great figures.
Dugonics Square

Statue commemorating Attila József on
Dugonics Square (sculpted by Imre Varga in 1964)
From 1921 the main building of the University (built: 1872/73,
Antal Skalnitzky,
Ferenc Arleth) finds place
here. Before the
Big Flood this square was home to the
wheat market. The majestic fountain catches every visitors
attention, which was built on the
100th anniversary of the
Big Flood (1979) by
István Tarnai. A statue commemorating
Attila József (a great Hungarian
poet) also decorates this vast square (sculpted by
Imre
Varga in 1964). Festivals and concerts are often held here and
is a favorite spot of the University's students.
"The horse's behind"
That is how the people of Szeged refer to this square. Although it
can be said that it is one of the smallest squares in Szeged, it
still has its own unique charm. The square's statue is dedicated to
the
third cavalry regiment made up mostly of Szeged youths
(
picture). Many of its members perished in
World War I. All the higher ranked
officers who died can be read off of the statue's base.From 1952
the Faculty of Law (built: 1882) stands here (
picture).
Organisation
- Related article: Albert
Szent-Györgyi Medical University
It has 11 faculties:
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
independent" 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 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.

Attila József Study and Information
Centre
The new building not far from the city center houses a new library,
computer center and lecture halls. Its name is
Attila József
Study and Information Centre (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 1 393 in number, among them there are 18
academicians, 123 academic doctors and 818 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.
Alumni & Notable persons & Professors
Nobel laureate
Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty of Arts
- János Csengery, philosophy
- Zoltán Gombocz, philologist
- Sándor Imre, pedagogy
- Károly Marót,
philosophy
- Sándor Márki, medieval history
- Ágoston Pável, ethnology
- István Schneller,
pedagogy
- Sándor Sik, hungarian literature
- Antal Szerb, author
- József Szinnyei, history of literature
Faculty of Law and Public Administration
- István Bibó, politics
- László Buza, international law
- Győző Concha,
politics
- István Ereky, public administration
- Ferenc Finkey, criminal law
- Barna Horváth, sociology of law
- Sándor Kolosváry,
private law
- Ernő Nagy, public law
- Kelemen Óvári, history of law
- Ödön Polner, public
law
- Elemér Pólay, roman law
- Bódog Somló, philosophy of law
Natural Sciences
Faculty of Medicine
Faculty of Sciences
- István Apáthy, zoology
- Zoltán Bay, physicist
- Jenő Cholnoky, geography
- Lipót Fejér,
mathematics
- István Györffy,
botanics
- Alfréd Haar, mathematics
- László Kalmár,
computer science
- Béla
Kerékjártó, geometry
- László Lovász,
mathematics
- Tibor Radó, mathematics
- László Rédei,
mathematics
- Frigyes Riesz, mathematics
- Brúnó F. Straub, biology
- Béla
Szőkefalvi-Nagy, mathematics
Notable Students
Olympic Athletes
See also
Departments
Lists
Publications
Research
University related places
Faculties & departments
Historical
External links
Library
Online news
Rankings
Related pages
Study in Hungary
University links
Bibliography
- János Martonyi, József Ruszoly: A JATE története - A
Szegedi Tudományegyetem múltja és jelene. Szeged, 1999.
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