Search

Search Results

• The FOUNDATION AND THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS OF THE HEALTH COLLEGE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DEBRECEN

  253-278

  Gergely Fábián

  Views:

  85

  The article reviews the circumstances of the foundation and dynamic development of the Health College during its first two decades when, with extensive Hungarian and international cooperation, four programs were launched in the college, which had not existed previously in Hungary.  In addition, several other programs, that up till that time had been available only in Budapest, were initiated. As a result of the dynamic training development, the number of students increased significantly by the end of the nineties.  Because of the increase enrollment, the College was struggling with a significant lack of space, consequently beginning in 1997 developing and improving the infrastructure became increasingly critical. By taking over and repairing old and erecting new buildings the college significantly expanded by several thousand square meters. Additionally, the dormitory of the college was also renovated. The creation of the college was part of the national concept and strategy in the nineties aimed at establishing and expanding higher education for healthcare workers.  In the first twenty years, six new programs were launched at the college, and by the end of the 2000s, the institution was able to start a master degree.The rate at which the college was developing was somewhat broken or slowed down by the transformation of higher education in the 2000s, the start and the storms of university integration, the introduction of the Bologna system, and the accompanying structural transformations. The college successfully faced the obstacles, and tried to take advantage of the opportunities arising from the new systems. The 2000’s saw the creation of new bachelor programs, specializations and master programs, including some that had not existed in our country before.The overview of the history of the first twenty years is inseparable from Dr. Zsolt Lukácskó, who was the founding director general of the college and then, after it had been declared to be a faculty, its first dean until 2007.

• Egy kis egyetemtörténet anekdotákban

  165-174

  Botond Gaál

  Views:

  333

  THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY IN STORIES. he writing remembers the teachers of the Reformed heological Faculty of the Debrecen University in anecdotes. he work and academic activities of the cited professors are commemorated through interesting stories and funny anecdotes. he author describes these professors amicably and amusingly as nice people who seem sometimes rigorous or eccentric, and who strived to maintain the high quality of academic work.

• The HISTORY OF CARDIAC SURGERY IN DEBRECEN

  262-284

  Tamás Szerafin

  Views:

  43

  The establishment of cardiac surgery in Debrecen is closely interlinked with thoracic surgery. This activity started and continued for many decades at the Auguszta Sanatorium, later the University of Debrecen's Department of Surgery II, which housed thoracic surgery at the time. In the Auguszta Sanatorium, which was nationalised after World War II, a thoracic surgery department was established in 1948, under the direction of Dr. József Schnitzler, whose professional interests in the 1960s turned towards cardiac surgery. He found a suitable partner for his groundbreaking goal in the pioneering work of Hungarian cardiac surgery, Dr. Árpád Eisert, a leading surgeon of the Jósa András County Hospital in Nyíregyháza. As a result of their exemplary professional cooperation, the first closed heart surgery was performed in Debrecen in 1963. The heart-lung machine required for cardiopulmonary bypass necessary to start open heart operations was provided by a donation from Béla Köteles, the son of Hungarian emigrants born in America, who founded his own instrument manufacturing company there. The first open heart surgery was performed by visiting professor Gábor Kovács from Szeged with Professor Schnitzler in 1968. In 1972, András Gömöry was entrusted with the management of cardiac surgery, and he succeeded in creating a team of highly qualified doctors and specialists even under the prevailing difficult circumstances. This, provided a solid basis for further development within the field. In 1983, after the retirement of Professor Schnitzler, Árpád Péterffy, Associate Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, was appointed as Head of the Department of Surgery II. Due to the knowledge, professional and work organisation experience he had gained abroad, cardiac surgery in Debrecen developed with great strides. The number of operations increased significantly, while the mortality rate was reduced by a third. He managed to acquire a new building for cardiac surgery in 1993, which created the opportunity for further development. The new building significantly improved the quantity and quality of cardiac surgery and made Debrecen an internationally recognised flagship of Hungarian cardiac surgery. Due to his work in international exchanges his students were able to improve their knowledge in Western European countries and elsewhere overseas. After his retirement in 2008, he continued to work as Professor Emeritus in our clinic, remaining fully committed to supporting our work, the development of cardiac surgery in Debrecen, and the preservation and enhancement of its reputation. As his professional successor, Associate Professor Tamás Szerafin was entrusted with the leadership of the cardiac surgery department. Together with his colleagues, their aim has been to preserve and further develop the patient-centred spirit and professional dedication of their predecessors, and to preserve the built heritage.

• BÉLA PUKÁNSZKY PROFESSOR OF GERMAN STUDIES THE RECTOR MAGNIFICUS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DEBRECEN DURING THE ACADEMIC YEAR 1947/48.

  13-21

  Anna Molnár

  Márta Virágos

  Views:

  148

  Béla Pukánszky, Literary historian. germanist, corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, was a professor at the University of Debrecen from 1941 until his death. He was the Head of the Department of German Literature at the university; he was dean of the Faculty of Arts in the academic year of 1947/48 and rector of the university in the academic year of 1948/49. Due to his unfortunate, early death at the age of 55, he worked at the University of Debrecen for only nine years, but he was known and recognized far beyond the walls of the university through his scholarly work.

   

• INSTRUCTONS ABOUT MY LIBRARY: THE LIBRARY OF LÁSZLÓ ORSZÁGH

  199-239

  Márta Virágos

  Views:

  72

  In a detailed letter, László Országh decided the fate of his library already in the mid-seventies, the original handwritten form of which is kept in the University and National Library of the University of Debrecen. We are publishing the letter in its original form.

• Inscrutable Students.Searching for Enemy in Hungarian Universities at the Beginning of Fifties

  Petra Polyák

  Views:

  169

  „Unknowable Students”. „Searching for the Enemy” at the Hungarian Universities in the Beginning of the Fifties. The Communist Party organization of Hungarian universities, in order to fulfil one of their main tasks, i.e. to “unmask the enemy”, attempted to gather a lot of information about the students. They collected data through admission procedures about their class-origin, which was reckoned as basic indicator of their political reliability, while functionaries tried to force them to verbalize their opinion and to comment daily political events in obligatory courses of Marxism-Leninism and in other formal and informal discussions. Besides the identification of the “enemy”, the forcing of political statements had the purpose to get the chance to correct them. However, the overstraining of political issues, the circulating process of re-learning the same parts of Communist ideology over and over again, along with the overreaction of functionaries to politically “incorrect” opinions led to an unwanted effect. Reports on the effectiveness of contemporary practices of indoctrination stated several times that the ideological dissemination of knowledge does not provide some students with a world view, but rather a practical knowledge: the students, instead of revealing their real thoughts “learned to speak Marxism”.

• CHIEF OF MEDICINE JÓZSEF CZAKÓ, WHO ESTABLISHED CLINICAL INSTITUTIONS IN MAROSVÁSÁRHELY SERVING THE HUNGARIAN LANGUAGE MEDICAL EDUCATION: The Story of the First Heart Surgery in Transylvania

  67-78

  Éva Veress

  Views:

  130

  The study deals with the life and work of dr. József Czakó, chief of medicine, sanatorium director, university professor, about whom very little summary has been written so far. He tries to bring important historical medical data out of obscurity and save them for posterity, which are related to the establishment of the Marosvásárhely Sanatorium and the first heart surgery performed in Transylvania, by organizing the New Hospital, as well as the Hungarian-language medical training that started in 1944 at Marosvásárhely. By using specialized literary sources and unique documents, as well as based on the author's own experiences, relying on the Czakó legacy, he saves the important data, which reveals new information and important details about the health conditions of the small town at the beginning of the last century.

• THE AMBASSADOR OF THE RECOMMENCEMENT: ISTVÁN BENCSIK (1953-1970)

  5-14

  Béla Surányi

  Views:

  64

  Agriculture played a significant role in consolidating the domestic political system after 1956. The rapid development of the Hungarian agricultural sector's performance contributed significantly to the country's relations with the economically developed regions of the world, with the so-called Hungarian model incorporating backyard farming into large-scale agriculture. However, this progress was achieved through an arduous road to development, resulting in internationally recognised vocational training standards in agriculture, particularly in higher agricultural education. Since the second half of the 1960s, there has been a noticeable development in the agricultural sector in Hungary. It has managed to preserve the creative traditions of its historical peasantry to a certain extent. The Debrecen agricultural higher education had a decisive role in the ambitious development of Hungarian agriculture. István Bencsik was an outstanding player in this process, actively contributing to the material and intellectual foundation of higher education in Debrecen. His work later impacted the agriculture of Tiszántúl and the wider region.

• To the Critical Period of the History of the University of Pozsony 1914–1923

  142-156

  József Mihály Kiss

  Views:

  124

  Elizabeth University of Arts and Sciences that was founded in 1912 started functioning with opening the Faculty of Law in the autumn of 1914. The first lectures were held only at the beginning of 1918 at the Faculty of Arts and at the autumn of 1918 at the Medical Faculty. On 1st of January in 1919 the Czech Legion marched in Pozsony (later Bratislava), and from this point on the possibility of the further operation of the university was uncertain. In the September of 1919 the Czechoslovak State occupied all real estates of the university, consequently, education at the Faculty of Arts and at Medical Faculty of the Elizabeth University was  finished. The university teachers and students of these faculties fled to Hungary. Education at the Faculty of Law was going on until the summer of 1921, and then this faculty was also closed. The university as displaced educational institution together with the similarly displaced University of Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) continued her activity in Budapest. In 1923, the University gained her final place in Pécs.

• The HISTORY OF THE CLINIC OF NEUROLOGY

  234-252

  László Oláh

  Views:

  76

  The medical training at the Faculty of Medicine of the Debrecen Hungarian Royal University started in 1921. The Department of Mental and Neurological Diseases began its operation in 1921 at the Magoss György Square (current Bem square) under the leadership of László Benedek. The clinic moved to its new building at the Nagyerdő in 1927. László Benedek was succeeded by István Somogyi in 1937, and by Kálmán Sántha in 1938. Sántha’s main merit was the introduction of neurosurgery procedures and the establishment of the neurosurgery unit in Debrecen. He was convicted with fictional political accusations, and exiled to Balassagyarmat in 1951. Although rehabilitated in 1956, he was unable to return to the clinic in Debrecen. While Sántha worked at Balassagyarmat, the clinic was run by Sándor Rusz. Between 1957 and 1967 Pál Juhász had been the director of the clinic, who established a neurosis unit and EEG laboratory. After a two-year transitional period, László Molnár was appointed to be head of the clinic in 1969. Realizing that stroke is a public health issue, he was among the first who established a cerebrovascular unit in Europe. He was succeeded by László Csiba, who led the clinic between 1992 and 2017. The separation of the Department of Neurology and Department of Psychiaty in 1992, as well as the relocation of the Department of Neurology to the Auguszta area took place during his leadership. Professor Csiba established an excellent stroke center, and introduced reperfusion therapies in Debrecen. Currently, the Department of Neurology is headed by László Oláh.

• REMEMBERING HILDE DE RIDDER-SYMOENS, PAST PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF UNIVERSITY HISTORY

  259-261

  László Szögi

  Views:

  29

  Hilde De Ridder-Symoens, internatonally appretiated professor of Medieval History passed away 5th March 2023 at the age of 80. The Belgian professor was one of the most excellent university historian of her age.

• ALADÁR KETTESY ARRIVED AT THE DEBRECEN OPHTHALMOLOGY CLINIC A HUNDRED YEARS AGO

  229-232

  Ildikó Süveges

  Views:

  80

  The article commemorates Aladár Kettesy, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Debrecen, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his taking over the management of the Eye Clinic at the University of Debrecen, initially as a trustee. In addition to the achievements in medical and scientific work, the memoir highlights the personality of the professor and emphasises his great importance in the history of ophthalmology in Hungary.

   

• ADDITIONAL FEES IN THE ISTVÁN TISZA UNIVERSITY. THE CHANGES OF THE STUDY COSTS ABOVE THE TUTION FEE IN DEBRECEN BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS

  151-174

  Sándor Király

  Views:

  44

  There were two types of study costs in the universities between the two World Wars, one of them was the tution fee, and the other one was the additional fee. The tution fee had been part of the Hungarian educational system since the middle of the 19th century. Those university students whose parents were in low social status with low income could get tution fee discount or exemption because of their financial situation. But in the case of the different kind of additional fees, there were not any discount or excemption because these fees required for the maintenance of several university institution, like university canteen, patient care fund, or the provision fund of the University Council. The system of these additional fees was different in the Hungarian universities, some additional fees were the same, some not. There were difference in the amount of the additional fees too. In this study, we can see the changes of the additional fee system in Debrecen between the two World Wars. All of the additional fees will be presented, for example canteen fee, patient care fund, and the two type of maintenance surcharges which were made due to the influence of the great economic crisis.

• Gyula Mitrovics, Professor of Pedagogy the Rector Magnificus of István Tisza University of Debrecen of the Academic Year 1940/41.

  Tamas Vincze

  Views:

  181

  Professor of Pedagogy Gyula Mitrovics was Rector Magnificus of the Hungarian Royal István Tisza University of Debrecen in the academic year of 1940-1941. His profound interest in the arts and his Protestant identity
  shaped by the oscillation between the Sárospatak versus Debrecen axis constituted the basis and the framework for an overarching career which the child of a Sárospatak family of educators could fulfill in the Hungary of the first half of the 20th century. Despite the fact that the success of his early publications and the affirmative critical responses beckoned the young and upcoming teacher to a career in art history or to the calling of an aesthete, the interests of the arts faculty of the ”newly born” university of Debrecen dictated a different professional alternative. His attention turned to pedagogy, of which he became privat-docent in 1917, then full professor in 1918. Starting from this juncture, he led parallel professional lives rooted in aesthetics and pedagogy. In the year before his retirement he was elected rector of the university. His attitude in this supreme office was characterized by seeking compromises, which was a direct consequence of the priorities of the age in which he lived. It was during his rectorship that the university was to surrender its science departments. However, the diplomatically sensitive rector was able to attain the continuance of instruction in the disrupted departments by employing external lecturers. During his retirement as pensioner his life assumed a tragic turn: int he year 1949 – prompted by outside advice – he resigned his position as corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy then, in the middle of the 1950s he left Hungary. The one-time Debrecen professor of pedagogy spent his remaining years in Stuttgart and that is also where he died in 1965.

• REZSŐ BOGNÁR PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, RECTOR MAGNIFICUS OF THE KOSSUTH LAJOS UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCES BETWEEN THE ACADEMIC YEARS 1951-54. AND 1973-75

  3-23

  Márta Virágos

  Ferenc Sztaricskai

  Views:

  129

  Rezső Bognár graduated from the József Nádor University of Technology and Economics in Budapest and worked beside Géza Zemplén at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Applied Sciences unil 1950. At the age of 35 he already became a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.  He moved to Debrecen as an academic, where he organised the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University's newly established Faculty of Natural Sciences.  The four decades he has spent in Debrecen have spread far beyond the walls of the institute, since he was rector of the university for a total of five academic years, and vice-rector for seven academic years, both positions he has held on two occasions. He played a particularly significant role in enabling the Debrecen Academic Committee to start its work in 1976 and to build its headquarters in Debrecen.  

• MOSAICS TO THE THIRTY-YEAR OLD HISTORY OF THE HUNGARIAN ACCREDITATION COMMITTEE

  87-137

  Tibor Szántó R.

  Views:

  187

  MAB is an organization established for the external evaluation of the quality of Hungarian higher education institutions and their study programmes. It was established temporarily in November 1992, with legal definition in 1994. This paper is a concise chronicle of MAB's 30-year history. It attempts to provide only a few, but perhaps not insignificant, pieces of the mosaic for these 30 years, from the antecedents of the foundation, certain characteristics of the organization and operation, to the international and domestic embeddedness, to the question of MAB's place in Hungarian higher education. After presenting the beginnings, the primary organizing principle of the text is thematic, the historical thread appears within the topics.

• The University in the 21st century: Teaching the New Enlightenment at the Dawn of the Digital Age. Ed. Marvin Lazerson

  Zsuzsa Köpösdi

  Views:

  167

  The book provides an in-depth analysis of the main trends and methodologies by which the 21st century higher education should be reorganized, and of the practices, approaches and methods which should be radically rethought. The authors give a detailed description of the changes and trends that require the application of a radically new approach to higher education.

   

   

• The DESTRUCTION OF THE DOCUMENTS OF THE EÖTVÖS LORÁND UNIVERSITY IN THE 1950S

  196-233

  Krisztina Tóth

  Views:

  151

  At Eötvös Loránd University, registers have been kept continuously since its foundation in 1635. The storage of these and then the documents and minutes created in the rector’s and dean’s offices posed a challange to the institution at the beginning of the 20th century. From 1948, in accordance with the decrees and instructions issued in the name of paper-saving, as well as the archival decree published in 1950, large-scale document disposition began, and the remaining documents were transferred to the Hungarian National Archives. The documents created between 1635 and 1900 were transported from the university in 1951. From 1952, in addition to the disposition, documents also had to be transferred to the Hungarian Labour Movement Institute, so only a fraction of the documents created after 1900 ended up in the National Archives between 1953 and 1955. In November 1956, a fire broke out in the National Archives as a result of a shot, and all the delivered documents of the university were destroyed. Between 1948 and 1956, the Eötvös Loránd University suffered an irreparable loss, since according to conservative estimates, only 20 meters of documents remained out of approximately 2500 meters of documents, and thus it lost not only its documents, but also a large part of its past.

• 85 YEARS OF ENGLISH STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DEBRECEN: ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION WITH THE PREVIOUS DIRECTORS

  227-248

  Balázs Venkovits

  Views:

  277

  In 2023 the University of Debrecen's Institute of English and American Studies celebrates the 85^th anniversary of the founding of the Department of English and thus the launching of an English studies degree program at the University of Debrecen. The history of the institute and the careers and achievements of its prominent figures have been the subject of a dedicated volume and a number of studies. The aim of the present roundtable is to explore, with the involvement of some of the former directors of the Institute, the less known aspects of its past that are of relevance for the history of the university as well, nuanced by personal recollections, linking the past with the present and the future. The discussion was initiated and moderated by Balázs Venkovits, the current director of the Institute, and involved four former directors, Zoltán Abádi Nagy, István Rácz, Péter Szaffkó and Zsolt Virágos.

• KÁROLY ERDŐS, PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY THE RECTOR MAGNIFICUS OF THE HUNGARIAN ROYAL ISTVÁN TISZA UNIVERSITY OF DEBRECEN DURING THE ACADEMIC YEAR 1945/46.

  4-13

  János Csohány

  Views:

  111

  Károly Erdős (1887-1971) began his teaching and research career as a teacher of church history at the Reformed College in Debrecen. After the Faculty of Reformed Theology became part of the university, which began to function in 1914, Erdős became a teacher and later director of the Institute for the Training of Ministers of the Reformed Church. In 1929 he was appointed professor in the New Testament Department of the Tisza István University. As an university professor and pastor, he rendered great service to the city and the Church, both as a teacher and as a scholar. After 1949 he became a professor at the Reformed Theological Academy in Debrecen.

• ‘THAT HOPELESS LITTLE TOWN HERE’ – THE LOW COUNTRIES CONNECTIONS WITH EDUCATION IN OLOMOUC

  71-86

  Engelbrecht Wilken

  Views:

  48

  The year 2022 marked the 75^th anniversary of the appointment of Aimé van Santen, then first secretary of the mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Prague, which reopened after the liberation of Czechoslovakia in August 1945, as a lecturer in Dutch at the University of Olomouc, reconstituted in February 1947. This article examines academic links between Olomouc and the Low Countries from the 16^th through the 20^th century and the circumstances of the beginning of the study of Dutch there in 1947.

• Tivadar Hüttl, Rector Magnificus of the Academic Year 1939/40 of the Tisza István University

  Jozsef Mudrák

  Views:

  211

  Tivadar Hüttl, Professor of Surgery the Rector Magnificus of the Hungarian Royal István Tisza University of Debrecen during the Academic Year 1939/40. Tivadar Hüttl – whose father was the owner of a successful porcelain factory – graduated as a doctor of medicine from the University of Arts and Sciences of Budapest, and worked there at the I. Surgery Clinic besides Professor Tibor Verebély. In 1921, he was entrusted with the management of the Surgery Clinic in Debrecen, and one year later, he became a director-professor. In his clinic, he organized sections of otorhinolaryngology, stomatology, urology, traumatology, orthopaedics, etc., which later became independent clinics. He established an important scientific school; his students came to him from all over the world. In the academic year of 1939-1940, he was the rector of the István Tisza University of Arts and Sciences of Debrecen, and the representative of the university in the Upper House of the Hungarian Parliament. In 1944, he stayed in Budapest because of the war, and after his return, he was deprived of the position of professor on indignant causes in a show trial. From 1951 to his death in 1955, he was the head physician of the National Institute of Oncology in Budapest.

   

• RELIEF IN MEMORIAM OF PROFESSOR ZOLTÁN ZÁBORSZKY, FOUNDER OF THE TRAUMATOLOGY DEPARTMENT IN DEBRECEN.

  160-164

  Béla Turchányi

  Views:

  98

  A bronze relief was unveiled in the corridor of the Department of Traumatology of the University of Debrecen in memory of Zoltán Záborszky (1927-2020), the founder of the department. Zoltán Záborszky MD was the Head of the Department from 1987 to 1993, but after his retirement he remained active until 2016 as Professor Emeritus. His consistent medical activity, enthusiastic teaching, precision, and benevolent rigor were respected by all. The relief depicting the smiling face of Professor Záborszky was based on donations of the staff of the institute and the Foundations supporting the work of the Department.

• ARCHIVAL SOURCES OF THE SAD PERIOD OF THE COLLEGE OF EPERJES

  177-198

  Alex Durovics

  Views:

  52

  The famous and historic College of Eperjes during the First World War included a high school, theology, a law academy and a teacher training-school. For an institution that suffered the hardships of the First World War, the collapse of the Kingdom of Hungary was also a coup de grace. After a series of hardships, the representatives of the new power no longer welcomed this ancient institution of the city. I would like to present now a brief selection of archival sources from this sad period.

• Béla Tankó. Ed. Márta Virágos

  János Aradi

  Views:

  125

  Béla Tankó was the founder of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Debrecen. the editor Marta Viragos gives a full picture of the professional and the private life of the professor.