About university of Miskolc: cradle, past and present

Officers of the engineer corps were needed for the mechanised aspects of warfare after the fierce wars in the 17^th century. Central organisations of countries, regardless of the costs, established such military schools at the beginning of the 18^th century in Vienna, Brussels, Paris and in other capital cities. However, it was evident that various sectors of economy required also well-trained leaders and specialists. Mining and metallurgical industry belonged to the exchequer and they were integrated into large systems dealing also with animal husbandry, forestry, food and drink production plus, machines and equipment, energy transmission chains, water supply were produced by the system. Such economic sphere was termed in Latin as montanisticum and in German Bergwesen, Bergbauwesen or Bergbau covering the meaning of unified self-supplying mining and metallurgical engineering system.

The Royal Chamber in Vienna, in the capital city of Austria issued a decree on 22 June 1735 on the establishment of a "Berg-Schola" (School for Mines and Metallurgy) in Selmecbánya which is situated now in Slovakia. The objective of the School which was one of the first engineering Colleges in the world was to train leading officers first of all for the exchequer-integrated mines and metallurgical industry and for private industry, too. The duration of education and practical training was 2 years and five branches were listed as exploitation of a mine and laws relating to mining, measurement performer, ore preparatory, chemist and metallurgist, coinage specialist and gold-examiner. One of the first professors of the school was Samuel Mikoviny, who was an outstanding engineer and mathematician and a dominant figure in Hungarian cartography.

In 1763 the antiphlogistonic chermist N. J. Jacquin, later on a professor and rector of the University of Vienna, was appointed the head of the first department, the Department of Metallurgy, Chemistry and Mineralogy. His successor was G. A. Scopoli, who was invited to the University of Pavia (Italy) from Selmecbánya. In 1765 N. Poda – who gave an expert description of world-famous mining machines of Selmec – was appointed as the head of the second department – the Department of Mathematics, Mechanics and Machinery. In 1770 the first professor of the third Department of Mining was Chr. T. Delius who was the author of a world-famous work on mining. Delius, as well as his successor at the department, J. Peithner, were called to the Royal Chamber of Vienna to manage the metallurgical and mining activities of the students of the whole empire in practice. Prof. Rupprecht introduced the group-work.

In 1770 Academy rank was awarded by the Queen, Maria Theresa by the decree on Systema Academiae Montanisticae and the duration of the education was three years, each academic year coincided with the calendar year. The professors had to examine their students in every quarter. In 1809 a course of philosophy was introduced involving mathematics, physics and logics and such courses proved to be the basis for the Universities of Sciences. At the beginning of the 19^th century the duration of study was increased up to 3.5 and 4 years providing experiences to the students in 6 and later on in 12 month-time. The number of students that time was about 200 and one-fourth received stipend. The language of teaching until 1868 was German and step-by-step Hungarian. Professional books and teaching materials present the state-of-the-art of engineering education and these 6,000 books serve as a Library Museum now within the University including textbooks by Galilei, Newton, Bernoulli, Agricola, Boyle, etc.

Professors came also from Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands and visiting professors were invited from Sweden, Russia, etc. For several months Alessandro Volta worked in the laboratories. In 1786 Fausto d'Elhuyar, later on being Chief Executive Director of Mining and Metallurgical Industry in Mexico, who discovered a new chemical element, the vanadium visited the Academy. Almost all leading personnel of French mining and metallurgy paid longer study tours to the Academy. The book on Exploitation of Mines written by Delius was translated into French by J. G. Schreiber which proved to be a recognised textbook also in the 1830es. In 1794 when École Polytechnique was established in France the Laboratory system of Selmecbánya served as an example and "the structure of such education should be introduced into École des Travaux Publique institution" as the submission for the approval said.

The Royal Chamber of Vienna in 1786 invited internationally recognised scholars among others Hawkins of Britain, Ferber of Sweden, Charpentier of Germany, F. d'Elhuyar of Mexico to an international conference in order to exchange views on the new amalgamation process worked out by J. Born in Selmecbánya. That was the right time for J. Born to organise the first "Societät der Bergbaukunde" (Society for Mining and Metallurgical Engineering) and it had 154 members from scientific and cultural fields like Lavoisier, J. W. Goethe, J. Watt and with sessions in 15 European and American countries.

In 1846 the duration of theoretical study was increased to 4 years. The revolution and War of Independence in 1848-49 mobilised both academic staff and students for participation in defence of the Academy or fighting against the Austrian troops. After some months of break the teaching started again on 27 January 1850, few professors were dismissed, the famous physicist Christian Doppler (1803-53) went to Vienna.

New schools were established for the Austrian students in Leoben and for the Czech-Moravian students in Pribram. Later on these institutions received academy ranks.

In 1867 with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise the academy became the Hungarian Royal Academy of Mining and Forestry. At the turn of the 19^th century the academy was upgraded with new buildings and up-to-date laboratories.

Few examples on some internationally recognised professors are presented below as: One President of the Academy, I. Farbaky (1837-1928) was re-elected 6-times and was a Member of the Parliament in Budapest. Together with I. Schenek they discovered a new battery with lead plates. A. Kerpely (1837-1907) was the founder of professional literature, worked out iron factories placement and supply, E. Herrmann (1840-1925) was a pioneer in mechanics, H. Böckh (1874-1931) opened up crude oil fields in Iran, Iraq, Guatemala, Trinidad, Venezuela, Albania, etc.

In 1904 Hungarian Royal College for Mining and Forestry Engineering was the new name, new curricula and new courses like electrical engineering were introduced and University rank was granted. In the 1913/14 academic year the University had 20 well-equipped departments and 580 students. The training was tuition fee, 20% of undergraduate students received grants.

During World War I four fifths of the students went to the front line, more than 50 of them died at several battlegrounds in Europe, and many of them were seriously injured or became prisoners of war before they could return to their Alma-Mater.

After the World War I in 1919 – when Selmecbánya became a city of the newly formed Czechoslovakia – the University moved to Sopron. Mostly owing to the armed resistance of the students, Sopron was not given to Austria in the peace treaty. The teaching in Sopron started on 28 April 1919. The name from 1922 was The College of Mining and Forest Engineering. Teaching was running in four branches: mining engineering, non-ferrous metallurgical engineering, ferrous metallurgical engineering and forest engineering. The head of the college was the rector, the heads of the branches were the deans. In 1931 the college acquired the right to qualify the best graduates as non-ordinary professors and to award doctor title.

In 1929 the Publications of the department of mining and metallurgy in foreign languages came out, which are still alive under a different title.

In 1931 the college became the Sopron faculty of mining, metallurgy and forestry at the newly established József Nádor (Palatine Joseph) University of Technology and Economics in Budapest with 4.5 years of study. The number of departments was 27. The departments of mining and metallurgy operated in this organisation until 1949.

Some of the outstanding professors of the Sopron era were: József Finkey, whose books on mineral dressing were published in the United States, Germany and the Soviet Union, the iron metallurgist Ernő Cotel and the analytical chemist József Mika, whose books were published abroad, Géza Boleman, author of the classic work on electrical engineering, János Mihalovits, who explored the history of the university and mining, Antal Tárczy-Hornoch professor for geodesy, Károly Simonyi, physicist, then Simon Papp, István Vitális, Miklós Vendel and Elemér Szádeczky-Kardoss, all professors of geology.

World War II resulted in big losses in human lives, food, housing, clothing, schools, Universities, roads, rails but Hungarians wanted to work and live. The city of Miskolc has applied for a University of Technology several times before the War, but the success came in 1949 by the Acts 22 and 25 on the Restructuring of Budapest University of Technology saying: "for the advancement of higher engineering education a Technical University for Heavy Industry has to be established in Miskolc. The university will contain faculties of mining, metallurgical and mechanical engineering." Between 1949 and 1959 the departments of the Faculty of Metallurgical Engineering and the Faculty of Mining Engineering gradually moved to Miskolc. Based on the subjects of the former college, and utilising all its buildings, today's University for Forestry and Timber Industry was created in Sopron.

The first teaching day in Miskolc was on the 18^th of September 1949. Some 500 students of mining, metallurgical and mechanical engineering enjoyed warm welcome with a flag by the workers of the ironworks of Diósgyőr.

The present site of the university was chosen in February 1950. The area was about 85 hectares. In the autumn of 1951 the students and professors took possession of the first new University buildings.

In 1953 the first degree award ceremony took place in Miskolc, 236 metallurgical and mechanical engineers received their degrees. At the same time in Sopron 59 degrees for mining engineering were issued.

In 1959 the three faculties had 28 departments. In the early 1960es the central workshop, the main building of the university with a large lecture hall, the up-to-date refectory, the seventh student dormitory, the central library, the sport hall, etc. were built up. The university had more and more facilities for postgraduate courses, and for organising domestic and international scientific events.

Currently the University has been expanding and now has three engineering faculties (Mechanical, Earth Science and Technology, Material Science and Technology) including specialisations in information technology, mechatronics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, mining, environmental engineering, and many others. The academic staff has 400 members and the number of full-time students exceeds 4300.

Since 1983 new Faculties were established as of Law, Economics, Social Science and Humanities, Health Care. In addition, a Music School and a Teacher Training College was attached to the University, thus the total number of academics exceeds 800 and that of full-time students' is over 14,000.

The University of Miskolc is making several huge efforts to be an efficient, successful institutional member of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the European Research Area (ERA). To approach this position in addition to undergraduate, graduate and PhD engineering programmes there are talented, enthusiastic students in the participation of the attached Co-operative Research Centre on Mechatronics and Material Science, the new Regional University Knowledge-based Centre on Mechatronics and Logistics Systems, then in the Students Scientific Club, European Commission RTD Framework projects, industry-academia projects as well. The majority of graduates will be working in industry/enterprises, their research output help them to contribute successfully to the improvement of their economy sector. Research laboratories are the flagships of competitiveness, thus innovative graduates are the most important players in ERA. Graduates of high standard can get admission to PhD programmes and after receiving the degree some of them are recruited to be a member of academic staff.

Many academics are playing important roles in various domestic and international scientific bodies, editorial boards of periodicals, symposiums, conferences and seminars, referees for RTD applications' evaluation, running several projects, acting as visiting professors, invited speakers, chairpersons and fulfilling many other outstanding duties. All in one, their international recognition improves the University reputation both in engineering education and scientific research as well.

Further information: www.uni-miskolc.hu