University of Debrecen

The University of Debrecen is a major university located in Debrecen, Hungary.

History
Higher education began in Debrecen with the Calvinist College of Debrecen, which was founded in 1538. Over centuries of its existence it was one of the key institutions of higher education in Hungary. In the beginning of the 20th century the College was transformed into a university.

In 1908, the Calvinist Academy of Humanities was created, and in 1912, the Hungarian Royal University was founded. The university incorporated the theology, law, and humanities faculties of the College and added a medical school. Teaching began in 1914 in the old Calvinist College buildings. In 1918, the first new medical school building was opened, and the original medical school campus was completed in 1927.

In 1921, the university took the name of István Tisza, former prime minister of Hungary. In 1932 the university's main building was completed. It is the largest building in the city, and was designed in eclectic and neo-baroque style.

The Faculty of Natural Sciences was founded in 1949, and moved into the new Chemistry Building in 1970.



In 1949/1950, the University was restructured under communist control. The primary goal of the "reorganization" was to split the university into smaller, less influential institutions, and also to weaken or even dissolve units which did not fit to the political agenda of the day. The Faculty of Theology was returned to the Calvinist College, the Faculty of Medicine became an independent university (until 2000), the Faculty of Law was discontinued, and members of the teaching staff were expelled from the University. The departments of English, French, Italian, German, and Classical Philology were closed, while the Department of Russian expanded dramatically. The teaching of western languages resumed only after 1956, with the exception of Italian which was not offered again until the 1990s.

In 1952 the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Natural Sciences changed their name to Lajos Kossuth University, which they retained until 2000.

On January 1, 2000, the colleges and universities of Hajdú-Bihar county, the University of Agriculture, Lajos Kossuth University, and the Medical University, were combined. The resulting University of Debrecen had five university and three college level faculties, and 20,000 students. The Conservatory of Debrecen and schools of the University in Hajdúböszörmény and Nyíregyháza joined later.

The Debrecen Summer School, founded in 1927, is also located on campus, although it is technically independent from the university. The School teaches Hungarian culture and Hungarian as a foreign language to foreigners, year-round.

The most popular press is Egyetemi Élet and the leader online media of students is www.egyetemportal.hu.

Faculties and Colleges

 * Faculty of Agronomy
 * Faculty of Arts
 * Faculty of Dental Medicine
 * Faculty of Economic Sciences
 * Faculty of General Medicine
 * Faculty of Informatics
 * Faculty of Law
 * Faculty of Music
 * Faculty of Pharmacology
 * Faculty of Science


 * College of Engineering
 * College of Pedagogics
 * College of Public Health

Campus

 * The university has two major campuses, both in Debrecen: the older main campus (virtual tour), which hosts the majority of the departments of the faculties of arts, science, informatics, medicine, music and also the botnical garden; and the younger "Kassai-road campus" where most of the buildings of the faculties of law and economy are located. However, besides these, numerous smaller units are spread across the city, for example the departments of physics and the Institute of Nuclear Research   of the HAS forming a compact "mini-campus", or the Faculty of Agronomy.

Library

 * The library of the University of Debrecen is the largest university library in Hungary, and one of the two national libraries of the country (the other being the National Széchényi Library in Budapest). The number of records in the library is above 6 million.

Notable Alumni and Professors

 * Endre Ady, poet (1877-1919)
 * János Arany, writer and poet (1817-1882)
 * Dezső Baltazár, reformed bishop (1871-1936)
 * Ézsaiás Budai, professor of humanities and theology (1766-1841)
 * Mihály Csokonai Vitéz, poet (1773-1805)
 * Pál Ember Debreczeni, priest ( ? -1710)
 * Sámuel Diószegi, priest, botanist (1760-1813)
 * Lajos Domokos, judge, writer (1728-1803)
 * Mihály Fazekas, writer, botanist (1766-1828)
 * István Hatvani, mathematician (1718-1786)
 * Endre Hőgyes, physician (1847-1906)
 * Ferenc Kerekes, chemist, matematician (1799-1850)
 * Ferenc Kölcsey, poet and politician (1790-1838)
 * Imre Lakatos, mathematician and philosopher (1922-1974)
 * József Lugossy, linguist (1812-1884)
 * Ferenc Medgyessy, sculptor (1881-1958)
 * Zsigmond Móricz, writer (1879-1942)
 * Alfréd Rényi, mathematician (1921-1970)
 * Magda Szabó, writer (1917 - )
 * Sándor Szalay, physicist (1909-1987)
 * Andor Szentiványi, physician (1926-2005)
 * István Weszprémi, physician (1723–1799)

Image Gallery
Universität Debrecen Debreceni Egyetem Uniwersytet w Debreczynie