University of Szeged

1581-1871: Founding and predecessors

The earliest predecessor of today's university was established by Stephen Báthory in the city of Kolozsvár in 1581 as a Catholic academy, with a profile in humanities and theology. The academy offered university-level education in arts and different departments were organised by 1598. Before the establishment of a full university system, the academy stopped functioning in 1605 due to the reformation and the Long Turkish War. It was eventually re-opened with Habsburg support in 1698 as the Jesuit Academy of Cluj, and was granted the title Universitas by Maria Theresa in 1753. The university was notable for educating Saxon, Romanian and Hungarian students and the university press published books in three languages.

Following the dissolution of the Society of Jesus in 1773, the university was taken over by the Piarist teaching order, who was responsible for improving modernising education: the Faculty of Law was established in 1774, with the Faculty of Medicine following in 1775. Multiple departments made up these faculties. King Joseph II downgraded the university to a Royal College of the Academy in 1784, which hindered its further progress. Still, the institution became the largest college of Transylvania. The Faculty of Theology was closed down in 1786, and the other faculties offered a wide range of education, including economics and sciences. Following the Civic Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849, the Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Law were closed, with the latter functioning as an independent academy starting 1863.

1872-1944: University of Cluj and move to Szeged

The predecessor to the modern university was the University of Kolozsvár, founded in 1872 by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. The university was established as a four-faculty institution following European example: the Faculty of Arts, Languages and History, the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, the Faculty of Mathematics and Sciences, and the Faculty of Medicine were established. 269 students were enrolled in the university programmes in the first school year. The university became Ferenc József University of Cluj in 1881. Following this, the number of students grew sharply and the university had become an important centre of education at a national level. After the Unification of Transylvania with Romania in December 1918, the university was evacuated and in 1921, after the Trianon Treaty, it started to activate in Szeged. At the time, the institution had 62 functioning departments within its four faculties. Between 1922 and 1931, the university saw a great amount of development: teaching hospitals were built along the river Tisza, and other university buildings, including the research institutes on Dóm Square and the Auditorium Maximum at the Faculty of Arts, were built. 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.

In 1940, the university was divided into two legally separate entities: a smaller part moved back to Cluj, while the larger part remained in Szeged, and was established as a new institution under the name Miklós Horthy University.

1945-1999: Separate institutions

Following the Soviet occupation of Szeged in October 1944, the university acquired the name University of Szeged. During this period, entrance exams were introduced and teacher training also became an important role of the institution. With the new constitution of 1949, Russian language teaching and teaching of Marxism–Leninism was introduced. Structural changes of this period include the renaming of academic titles and ranks.

In 1951, the Faculty of Medicine was separated from the other three faculties and was established as an independent institution under the name Medical University. It later acquired the name Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical University, while the other faculties assumed the name Attila József University.

2000-today: University of Szeged

By 1996, there had been multiple institutions offering tertiary education in Szeged. As a result, the leaders of these, including those of the Attila József University, the Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical University, the Gyula Juhász Teacher Training College, and the Franz Liszt Musical College, signed a letter of intent that the Szeged University Association be established.

On 1 January 2000, the institutes were unified as the University of Szeged. Functioning as a public university, the institution comprised ten faculties, the number of which ultimately reached 12. Since 2004, a new system in tertiary education was established, which divides most majors into a Bachelor's and a Master's programme.

The university has nineteen doctoral schools and several research groups. 14 research groups are supported by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, among others in areas like pharmaceutical chemistry, biotechnology and environmental technology. 700 research areas are covered at the 19 doctoral schools of Szeged. The researchers of the university have had 25,000 publications in journals and conferences. They have also had 41 patents and 52 know-hows.