The best Hungarian universities, part 2 – Eötvös Loránd University
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Lately, there has been a growing interest in Hungarian academic education on part of foreign students, most of them choosing universities sited in Budapest. In the following series, we will present some of the best Hungarian universities, hoping that during your summer trip to one of our exciting festivals, you’ve taken a deep interest in our culture and history.
Given that the number of foreign students (either visiting with Erasmus, or being full-term students) has quickly grown in the recent years, we’ve decided to give a short overview of why you should study at one of those Hungarian universities that are among the top and also offer courses in English or other widely spoken languages. Our second stop is the Eötvös Loránd University.
Eötvös Loránd University
The Eötvös Loránd University is usually referred to as simply ELTE. The abbreviation comes from the Hungarian name of the university, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem. It is
‘a modern university with 380-year-old traditions’,
with its predecessor institution being founded in 1635, where theology and philosophy were taught.
As we saw in the case of BME, location and name changing are very typical of Hungarian universities. After all, this is not such a surprise, since we are talking about very old and very prestigious institutes. However, back to ELTE and the topic of names: the university got its current name in 1950, after Baron Loránd Eötvös, who is an alumnus of the university. Actually, ELTE is the oldest university in Hungary that is operating since it was founded.
What to study there?
Approximately 28 thousand Hungarian and international students attend ELTE, where a 1600 member teaching staff strives to give share their knowledge with students. 118 PhD programs, 17 doctoral schools, 38 Bachelor’s, 96 Master’s await those interested, along with 50 degree courses offered foreign languages.
ELTE provides the opportunity to learn at even two faculties at the same time, though there are rules as to what you can combine with what. This can be done if you are enrolled into a
traditional Bachelor’s programme, or into the two-tiered teacher-training program.
The list of the university’s eight faculties is the following:
– Faculty of Law and Political Sciences
– Faculty of Humanities
– Faculty of Informatics
– Faculty of Education and Psychology
– Faculty of Social Sciences
– Faculty of Elementary and Nursery School Teachers’ Training
– Faculty of Science
– Bárczi Gusztáv Faculty of Special Education.
Where?
ELTE has campuses all over Budapest, mostly at the agglomerated points of the city, and along the Danube coastline. All campuses are
easily accessible by public transport and are located at beautiful and scenic areas of Budapest.
Some campuses are very close to each other, like the Faculty of Law, of Humanities and of Education and Psychology around Deák Ferenc tér and the Hungarian National Museum, or the Faculty of Science and of Informatics, which are right next to the long campus of BME. However, the main office is at the Faculty of Law. You can find the rest of the locations here.
First, most, best
ELTE is proud of having ranked among the 551-600 best universities of 2013-14 in the world, ranked by QS World University Rankings. In the 2016-2017 ranking, it placed somewhat lower, between 601-650. The university was chosen among the 301-400 best on the Academic Ranking of World Universities, and placed 158th at the International Colleges and Universities list.
Considering the staff, 75% of them have scientific qualifications, which is the highest rate in Hungary. This is quite a good reason to trust in their knowledge and skills. It was even the most popular university in Hungary in 2016: every fifth applicant picked ELTE as their first choice.
