Energy crisis: drastic measures, draconic decorative lighting rigour at Budapest university
Hungarian universities introduce restrictions to cut back their energy consumption drastically. The government expects all public institutions to reduce consumption and save money. After all, the budget would crash if nothing changed. The University of Óbuda is not an exception, where the rector introduced some draconic measures to survive the heating season. Below, you may read the details.
Another Hungarian university in trouble
“I hereby decree exceptional measures to accomplish an effective, environment-friendly and power-saving university operation. We aim to reduce increased utility fees caused by the international energy crisis and to reach palpable short-term results with energy-saving measures”, the relevant decision of the rector of the university states.
The university will set hot water to 40 °C and teachers will finish classes at 8 PM. Furthermore, at weekends, the education will last only until 4 PM. By sunset, which is about 4.30 PM in winter time in Hungary, all people can leave the university buildings to reduce electricity consumption. Moreover, they will switch off the decorative lighting at 8 PM. Similarly to other institutions of higher education in Hungary, the use of air conditioning for heating will be prohibited. Meanwhile, nobody will be allowed to charge privatelly-owned communication devices at the university, eduline.hu wrote.
The university will optimise the operation of the dormitories between 20 December and 8 January. They also asked students to do their laundry at 30 °C.
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One of Hungary’s top institutions
Óbuda University has again been ranked among the world’s top 1200 higher education institutions in the Times Higher Education (THE) 2023 ranking, the university wrote in October. Óbuda University, which was ranked fourth among thirteen Hungarian institutions, was again positioned in the 1001-1200 range. Thus it is one of the best technical universities, Prof. Dr. Levente Kovács said. The university has done a lot to become a leading institution of technical higher education in Hungary, the rector added.
Prof. Dr. Levente Kovács pointed out that Óbuda University was featured in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings for the first time last year, emphasising that the university has held its leading position in the field of technical education. The Rector said that Óbuda University has made changes in a number of areas in recent years, and the successfully and thoughtfully implemented new governance model played an important role in strengthening its current position.
In addition to raising the quality of education, great emphasis has been placed on strengthening research & development and industrial relations. Rector Kovács said that an important achievement of this year was the student number increase, despite the overall decrease in the number of applicants in the country. Another important factor in Óbuda University’s progress was the significant increase in the number of staff with academic qualifications, uni-obuda.hu wrote.
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Source: eduline.hu, uni-obuda.hu