BUDAPEST UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLGY AND

ECONOMICS

Prof. Ákos Detrekői, DSc.Former Rector

(1997-2004)

Barcelona, 10 September 2004

1. INTRODUCTION

Thanks for invitation.The parts of the presentation:• Higher Education in Hungary,• Results of the engineering and research activity in Hungary in the past,• Research & Development activity today.• The activity and future plans of BUTE.The speaker was in the period 1997-2004 Rector of the University of Technology and Economics in Budapest.

2. HIGHER EDUCATION IN HUNGARY The universities of the Middle Ages,The universities of the Hungarian Kingdom,

1782 Institutum Geometricum (since 1871 University of Technology Budapest),

The universities after the World War II.Destroying of the existing system,New universities were founded,Eliminated academic freedom,Limited number of students,The research function of the universities was cancelled,Research institutes of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

were organised.(The Hungarian Academy of Sciences was founded in 1825).

The situation in 2004.

The number and art of the institutions: • State universities: 13,• Universities of Arts: 4,• Private universities: 5+2,• State colleges:11,• Private colleges: 21+6.

New bodies in Higher education:• Hungarian Accreditation Committee,

• Higher Education and Scientific Council,

Increasing number of students:Professors:1982 63 300 + 37 300 (14 000),1994 116 000 + 38 300 (19 100),2002 193 000 + 148 000 (23 150).

In 2002 193 000 regular students:• 171 000 in state institutions,• 11 600 in church owned institutions,• 10 400 in foundations institutions.

7430 PhD students.

Specializations in 2002:• Economics and business 41 900,• Humanities 32 900,• Engineering 28 800,• Informatics 15 400,

• Medicine and Health 14 200,• Agriculture 13 000,• Law, State Administration 11 600,• Natural Sciences 11 600

Preparation of new low of higher education

Special aspects:• Bologna Declaration (1999),• New university management system,• New model of financing,• Tuition fee.

3. SOME INTERESTING RESULTS OF THE ENGINEERING AND RESEARCH IN HUNGARY IN THE

PAST In the last two centuries in Hungary were a lot of new research results and a lot of engineering production realised,10 examples of new products and results:• 1828 the first soda water production (Ányos Jedlik),• 1829 the first dynamo (Ányos Jedlik),• 1832 non Euclidian geometry (János Bolyai),• 1849 the Chain Bridge in Buda-Pest,• 1885 the transformer (Ottó Blátthy, Miksa Déry, Károly

Zipernowsky),• 1893 the carburetter (Donát Bánki, János Csonka),• 1896 the first underground in the Continent,

• 1937 the production of C-vitamin from green pepper (Albert Szent-Györgyi),

• 1946 the measurement of Earth-Month distances by radar (Zoltán Bay),

• 1981 the magic cube (Ernő Rubik).

The Nobel price winner of Hungarian origin:• 1905 Fülöp Lénard (physics)• 1914 Róbert Bárány (medicine),• 1925 Richard Zsigmondy (chemistry),• 1937 Albert Szent-Györgyi (medicine),• 1943 Gyögy Hevesy (chemistry),• 1963 György Békésy (medicine),• 1963 Jenő Wigner (physics),• 1971 Dénes Gábor (physics),• 1986 József Polányi (chemistry) • 1986 Elie Wiesel (for piece),• 1994 György Oláh (chemistry),• 1994 János Harsányi (economy),• 2003 Imre Kertész (literature).

Some other world known scientist of Hungarian Origin:

• John von Neumann (mathematician),• Eduard Teller (physicist),• Theodor von Karman (mechanical engineering),• Pál Erdős (mathematician).

The education in mathematics and sciences in Hungary:• Special classes,• Journals,• Competitions.

4. RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

ACTIVITY TODAY Political transformation → transformation in R&D activity.

Until 1990 three types of R&D institutes:• Research institutes of Hungarian Academy of Sciences,• Department of Universities,• Industrial research institutes of Ministries,

Up to date situation:• Research institutes of Hungarian Academy of Sciences,

(the number of institutes was reduced),• Department of Universities,• Research Laboratories of international companies ( e.g.

Ericsson, Nokia, GE, Knorr-Bremse, Audi).

The steps of activity of international companies:• Products,• Production,• R&D activity.The number of researchers:1990-1995 decreasing: ~ 30 000 → ~ 23 000,after 1995 slowly increasing:• 1999 ~ 24 800,• 2000 ~ 27 900,• 2001 ~ 28 400.• 2003 ~ 30 000The expenditure:Similar to the number of researchers.1990 ~ 1.2% of GDP,1995 ~ 0.6 % of GDP,2003 ~ 1.0% of GDP.

Special problem:~ 0.8% is from state budget.

Forecast:2006 ~ 2.0% of GDP.

The main areas of R&D are connected to the main area industrial production:• automobile industry (Audi, GM, Suzuki, Knorr Bremse),• telecommunication and informatics (Ericsson, Nokia,

GE),• chemical industry (MOL, Henkel, Richter).Special topics:• participation of research framework programs of EU,• new model of financing of R&D,• new law of innovation,• patents.

5. THE ACTIVITY AND FUTURE PLANS OF BUTE

The main fields of the R&D activity today:• basic research (Special foundation),• the Frame work programs

o 4. First participation• 5. good results (~ 50 projects)• 6. Expression of Interest (~20 projects)

• Széchényi project• Cooperation with companies for innovation

• Common laboratories with International Companies:• Ericsson, Nokia, GE, Knorr-Bremse,

o Research groups of Hungarian Academy of Sciences,• Cooperation with foreign universities, (e.g. PhD

programs),• Others (e.g. NATO).

The future plans:• basic research (Special foundation),• the Frame work programs, • Common laboratories with International Companies,o Research groups of Hungarian Academy of Sciences,• Others (e.g. NATO).

New problems:• Centres of excellences,• More cooperation’s with SME-s,• Innovations networks.