The best Hungarian universities, part 1 – Budapest University of Technology and Economics
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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.
We’ve met several exchange students during our courses, and there were even some, let’s say, Italian or Scottish course mates, who were full-term students. One would think that their choice was based on the fact that they wish to learn more about Hungarian culture or customs and are taking courses in this field. In some cases, this is the truth indeed.
In others, they are simply smitten by the capital city, the Hungarian landscape
and came to Hungary to continue their studies in microbiology, English literature, electrical engineering, or economics.
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. The first stop of our trip is the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
photo: bme.hu
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
The Budapest University of Technology and Economics is officially abbreviated as ‘BME’, deriving from the Hungarian name, Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem. It was founded in 1782, and after a couple of centuries’ worth of name changing, merging and unmerging with other faculties and universities, a couple location changes, it finally settled on the official name Budapest University of Technology and Economics in 2000.
Location
The BME campus is mainly situated at the Buda-side, between the Liberty- and Petőfi Bridges, stretching a bit over to Rákóczi Bridge. This means that the campus is long and fairly narrow, and if you’d take a walk from one end of the campus to the other, it will take around 20 minutes. Its location is very fortunate, as
the city centre (at the Pest side) is a 10 minutes walk away,
no matter which bridge you take. Plus, the most famous sights of Buda are very close, as the Citadel is right at the Liberty Bridge end of the campus.
First, most, best
It is not only the oldest Institute of Technology in the world with university rank and structure, but also the first in Europe to train engineers at a university level. It is also considered to be the most innovative university in Hungary.
BME placed well at international rankings on many instances. Just considering the latest lists and data, the technological university of Budapest ranked somewhere between 700 and 800 out of all the universities in the world in 2017, and among the best 400 universities offering courses in engineering and technology it placed 322nd.
QS World University Rankings photo: www.topuniversities.comNobel-prize winners and Olympic medallists
As the Budapest University of Technology and Economics is the most respected university in Hungary to train in the field of technology, there are numerous world-wide famous scientists and Olympic winners among the alumni. They have four Nobel-prize winners: Dénes Gábor, the inventor of holography, George Oláh, Jenő Wigner and Fülöp von Lénárd. Other scientists and architects are Alajos Hauszmann, the architect of the Buda Castle, Kós Károly, the architect of the Budapest Zoo, Samu Pecz, the architect of the Great Market Hall, Ernő Rubik, Frigyes Schulek, the architect of the Fisherman’s Bastion, Imre Steindl, the architect of the Parliament, or Leó Szilárd, the father of the atomic bomb and the nuclear bomb.
