Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Encyclopedia
The Budapest University of Technology and Economics , in hungarian abbreviated as BME, English official abbreviation BUTE, is the most significant University of Technology in Hungary
and is also one of the oldest Institutes of Technology
in the world, having been founded in 1782.
The legal predecessor of the university was founded in 1782 by Emperor Joseph II
, and was named ("Institute of Geometry and Hydrotechnics").
The "Berg-Schola," the world's first institute of technology, was founded in Selmecbánya, Kingdom of Hungary
(today Banská Štiavnica
, Slovakia) in 1735. Many members of the first teaching staff of BME arrived from Selmecbánya.
It was reorganized in 1871 as Royal Joseph Technical University and was elevated to equal rank with other universities in the country. In 1910 it moved to its current site near Gellért square (next to the Art Nouveau
Hotel Gellért
). In 1934 it was reorganized again as Palatine Joseph University of Technology and Economics and it played a dominant role in the interwar
industrialization process, together with engineering and economist training in Hungary.
The university was restructured again after the Second World War. The 1956 Hungarian Revolution
was partly launched by students at the university, followed by many professors. In 1967, the two technical universities seated in Budapest were merged to form the Technical University of Budapest, with six faculties. In 2000 – two years after the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences was established – the official name changed to Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
in a scientific field). 34 professors/researchers of the university are members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
.
Training courses are provided in five languages: Hungarian
, English
, German
, French
and Russian
.
The ECTS
credit system was introduced in 1995. This helps students to enroll in the student exchange program of the European Union
, the Socrates
(also known as Erasmus), and earn a double degree through the Top Industrial Managers for Europe
network.
with enough points are eligible for admission, as well as for anyone else in possession of an International Baccalaureate (again, with enough points).
As with all Hungarian universities, a tuition fee of around $700 has to be paid each year for the Hungarian program. No extra fee is required for Hungarians for whom it is their first university, unless they spend more than 13 semesters there.
The university offers extensive English language programs on all its faculties, at all levels of study (Preparatory Year, Bachelor of Science
, Bachelor of Arts
, Master of Science
, Doctor of Philosophy
). The Tuition fees vary from €2250 - €4500 per semester.
6% of all students come from different countries of the world representing over fifty different countries; the majority of the students in the English Program are from Turkey
, Iran
and Cyprus
.
between Szabadság Bridge and Petőfi Bridge
and towards Lágymányosi Bridge
. This makes the university campus especially long and narrow: walking from one side of the university to the other can take as much as 20 minutes.
The Inner City of Budapest (Pest)
is just across the river, about 10 minutes' walk by either of the bridges.
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and is also one of the oldest Institutes of Technology
Institute of technology
Institute of technology is a designation employed in a wide range of learning institutions awarding different types of degrees and operating often at variable levels of the educational system...
in the world, having been founded in 1782.
History
BME is considered the oldest Institutes of Technology of university rank and structure in the world.The legal predecessor of the university was founded in 1782 by Emperor Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
, and was named ("Institute of Geometry and Hydrotechnics").
The "Berg-Schola," the world's first institute of technology, was founded in Selmecbánya, Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
(today Banská Štiavnica
Banská Štiavnica
Banská Štiavnica is a town in central Slovakia, in the middle of an immense caldera created by the collapse of an ancient volcano. For its size, the caldera is known as Štiavnica Mountains. Banská Štiavnica has a population of more than 10,000. It is a completely preserved medieval town...
, Slovakia) in 1735. Many members of the first teaching staff of BME arrived from Selmecbánya.
It was reorganized in 1871 as Royal Joseph Technical University and was elevated to equal rank with other universities in the country. In 1910 it moved to its current site near Gellért square (next to the Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
Hotel Gellért
Hotel Gellért
Hotel Gellért is a famous, first class four star hotel in Budapest, Hungary. The hotel was erected on the right bank of the river Danube between 1916 and 1918 in the Art Nouveau style with some biomorphic elements, at the foot of Gellért Hill, next to Szabadság Bridge.The four star Danubius Hotel...
). In 1934 it was reorganized again as Palatine Joseph University of Technology and Economics and it played a dominant role in the interwar
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
industrialization process, together with engineering and economist training in Hungary.
The university was restructured again after the Second World War. The 1956 Hungarian Revolution
1956 Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution or Uprising of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956....
was partly launched by students at the university, followed by many professors. In 1967, the two technical universities seated in Budapest were merged to form the Technical University of Budapest, with six faculties. In 2000 – two years after the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences was established – the official name changed to Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
People
The university has approximately 1,100 faculty members. About a third of its 24,000 students are foreign students, from fifty countries. BME issues about 70% of Hungary's engineering degrees.Nobel Laureates
- Dénes Gábor (Dennis Gábor), inventor of holography (1971 Nobel Prize in PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
) - George OláhGeorge Andrew OlahGeorge Andrew Olah is an American chemist. His research involves the generation and reactivity of carbocations via superacids. For this research, Olah was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1994...
(1994 Nobel Prize in ChemistryNobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
) - Wigner Jenő, (Eugene Wigner), (1963 Nobel Prize in Physics)
- Fülöp von LénárdPhilipp LenardPhilipp Eduard Anton von Lenard , known in Hungarian as Lénárd Fülöp Eduárd Antal, was a Hungarian - German physicist and the winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1905 for his research on cathode rays and the discovery of many of their properties...
(1905 Nobel Prize in Physics)
Others
- Alfréd HajósAlfréd HajósAlfréd Hajós was a Hungarian swimmer and architect. He was the first modern Olympic swimming champion and the first Olympic champion of Hungary.-Biography:...
Olympic champion swimmer - Alajos HauszmannAlajos HauszmannHauszmann Alajos was an Austro-Hungarian architect, professor, and member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.-Life:...
- Donát BánkiDonát BánkiDonát Bánki was a Hungarian mechanical engineer, inventor of the carburetor, togetherwith János Csonka, in 1893, as the Bánki-Csonka engine....
Co-inventor of the modern carburetor - Csaba HorváthCsaba Horváth (chemical engineer)Csaba Horváth was a Hungarian-American chemical engineer, particularly noted for building the first high performance liquid chromatograph.-Life:...
Built first high performance liquid chromatograph.
- Kálmán KandóKálmán KandóKálmán Kandó de Egerfarmos et Sztregova was a Hungarian engineer, and a pioneer in the development of electric railway traction.-Education:...
("Father" of the AC powered electric locomotive) - Tódor Kármán ("Father of super-sonic flight)
- Károly KósKároly KósKároly Kós was a Hungarian architect, writer, illustrator, ethnologist and politician of Austria-Hungary and Romania.- Biography :...
- Dénes MihályDénes MihályDénes Mihály was a Hungarian inventor, engineer.Mihály graduated as a mechanical engineer at the Technical University in Budapest. During his high school studies – at the age of 16 – he published books on automobiles and motorcycles. After university he began experimenting with television...
- Ernő RubikErno RubikErnő Rubik is a Hungarian inventor, architect and professor of architecture. He is best known for the invention of mechanical puzzles including Rubik's Cube , Rubik's Magic, Rubik's Magic: Master Edition, Rubik's Snake and Rubik's 360....
- Imre SteindlImre SteindlImre Steindl was a Hungarian architect.- Biography :He graduated at the Technical University of Budapest and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. He was a teacher of the Budapest Technical University from 1869...
Architect of Hungarian Parliament - Leó SzilárdLeó SzilárdLeó Szilárd was an Austro-Hungarian physicist and inventor who conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear reactor with Enrico Fermi, and in late 1939 wrote the letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb...
("Father" of the atomic bomb, one of two co-inventors of nuclear reactor) - Ede Teller ("Father" of the hydrogen bomb)
- Pál Erdős
- Donát BánkiDonát BánkiDonát Bánki was a Hungarian mechanical engineer, inventor of the carburetor, togetherwith János Csonka, in 1893, as the Bánki-Csonka engine....
- Árpád Gerecs
- Imre MakoveczImre MakoveczImre Makovecz , was a Hungarian architect active in Europe from the late 1950s onward.Makovecz was born and died in Budapest. He attended the Technical University of Budapest. He was founder and "eternal and executive president" of the Hungarian Academy of Arts.Makovecz was one of the most...
- Lajos Kollár
- András Ekler
- Kálmán TihanyiKálmán TihanyiKálmán Tihanyi , was a Hungarian physicist, electrical engineer and inventor. One of the early pioneers of electronic television, he made significant contributions to the development of cathode ray tubes , which were bought and further developed by the Radio Corporation of America , and German...
Inventor of Plasma TV, CRT-tube pioneer
Today
In May 2000 the university had 1,024 regular faculty members (more than 50% of whom had a PhDPHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in a scientific field). 34 professors/researchers of the university are members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest.-History:...
.
Training courses are provided in five languages: Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
.
The ECTS
European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System
This page describes ECTS-credits. For information about the ECTS grading system go to ECTS grading scale.European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System is a standard for comparing the study attainment and performance of students of higher education across the European Union and other...
credit system was introduced in 1995. This helps students to enroll in the student exchange program of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, the Socrates
Socrates programme
The SOCRATES programme was an educational initiative of the European Commission; 31 countries took part. The initial Socrates programme ran from 1994 until 31 December 1999 when it was replaced by the Socrates II programme on 24 January 2000, which ran until 2006...
(also known as Erasmus), and earn a double degree through the Top Industrial Managers for Europe
Top Industrial Managers for Europe
Top Industrial Managers for Europe is a network of more than fifty engineering schools and faculties and technical universities....
network.
University Rank
According to webometrics.info, in 2010 BME university was ranked 269th in the top 8000 worldwide.Faculties
At present the university has eight Faculties (founding date in parentheses):- Faculty of Civil Engineering (1782)
- Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (1871)
- Faculty of Architecture (1873)
- Faculty of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology (1873)
- Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics (1949)
- Faculty of Transportation Engineering (1955)
- Faculty of Natural Sciences (1987)
- Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences (1998)
Admissions
All Hungarians who pass the Hungarian high school maturaMatura
Matura or a similar term is the common name for the high-school leaving exam or "maturity exam" in various countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia,...
with enough points are eligible for admission, as well as for anyone else in possession of an International Baccalaureate (again, with enough points).
As with all Hungarian universities, a tuition fee of around $700 has to be paid each year for the Hungarian program. No extra fee is required for Hungarians for whom it is their first university, unless they spend more than 13 semesters there.
The university offers extensive English language programs on all its faculties, at all levels of study (Preparatory Year, Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
, Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
, Master of Science
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
, Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
). The Tuition fees vary from €2250 - €4500 per semester.
6% of all students come from different countries of the world representing over fifty different countries; the majority of the students in the English Program are from Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
.
Location
The university is located on the left side of the DanubeDanube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
between Szabadság Bridge and Petőfi Bridge
Petofi Bridge
Petőfi híd or Petőfi Bridge is a bridge in Budapest, connecting Pest and Buda across the Danube...
and towards Lágymányosi Bridge
Lágymányosi Bridge
Rákóczi Bridge is a bridge in Budapest, Hungary, connecting the settlements of Buda and Pest across the Danube. The construction of the steel girder bridge was started in 1992 to the plans of Tibor Sigrai.It is named after the south Buda district of Lágymányos...
. This makes the university campus especially long and narrow: walking from one side of the university to the other can take as much as 20 minutes.
The Inner City of Budapest (Pest)
Inner City (Budapest)
Inner City is part of the historic old town of Pest. Today it is a part of the 5th District of Budapest, Hungary. Budapest's main shopping street, Váci utca , is located there, as is a large part of the city's commercial life, banks and travel agencies...
is just across the river, about 10 minutes' walk by either of the bridges.