Budapest Polytechnic

Based on the provisions of Act LII of 1999, Budapest Tech was established with effect from 1 January 2000. Its legal predecessors were Bánki Donát Technical College, Kandó Kálmán Technical College, and the Light Industry Technical College.

As a result of the faculty accreditation process that took place in parallel with the institutional integration, the college was transformed into an institution with five faculties. Education thus commenced at the following faculties:

• Bánki Donát Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,
• Kandó Kálmán Faculty of Electrical Engineering,
• Keleti Károly Faculty of Economics,
• Neumann János Faculty of Informatics,
• Rejtő Sándor Faculty of Light Industry Engineering.

In line with the schedule of the Hungarian Accreditation Committee (MAB), the college was certified in 2005. At its plenary session in December 2005, MAB adopted an accreditation evaluation that highlighted:

According to Sections 81 (4) and 122 of the prevailing Higher Education Act, the Hungarian Accreditation Committee conducted an institutional accreditation procedure to evaluate the standard of education and scientific research at Budapest Tech. The investigation concluded that the college’s educational and research activities met the requirements of the current Higher Education Act and the quality standards set forth in the Committee’s general position regarding the accreditation of colleges, college faculties, and programs belonging to the traditional training system.

The plenary decision emphasized:

Budapest Tech (BMF) was formed on 1 January 2000 through the integration of three technical colleges with long-standing traditions. By preserving the progressive heritage of its predecessors and establishing national and international recognition for the new institution, it quickly became one of the leading higher education institutions in the region…

In October 2006, the University Knowledge Centre for Transport Informatics and Telematics (KITT) began its operations. Operating in the Central Hungarian statistical and development region, this autonomous organizational unit supports research and development, innovation, and manages education, knowledge, and research results.

In line with the institution development plan, as of January 2007, the Institute of Engineering Pedagogy of the Bánki Donát Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Institute of Human Development and Methodology of the Kandó Kálmán Faculty of Electrical Engineering were merged to form the Centre for Teacher Training and Engineering Pedagogy. The name of the Bánki Donát Faculty of Mechanical Engineering was changed to Bánki Donát Faculty of Mechanical and Safety Engineering. To better reflect the strengthening of environmental engineering education, the Rejtő Sándor Faculty of Light Industry Engineering was renamed Rejtő Sándor Faculty of Light Industry and Environmental Engineering.

The Institute of Computer Technology in Székesfehérvár was transformed into the Regional Education and Innovation Centre – Székesfehérvár under the direct supervision of the Rector. It became an autonomous unit with independent financial management, responsible for interdisciplinary education and research tasks.

In May 2007, the Office for Project and Technology Transfer was established within the Rector’s Office, followed by the establishment of the Public Procurement Centre on 1 January 2009.

At the Bánki Donát Technical College, education was provided in mechanical engineering, technical management, technical informatics, engineering teacher training, technical instructor training, and safety engineering. At the Kandó Kálmán Technical College, students graduated in electrical engineering, technical informatics, safety engineering, engineering teacher training, technical instructor training, and technical management. Meanwhile, the Light Industry Technical College trained engineers in light industry engineering, safety engineering, and technical management.

Credit-based curricula were introduced in September 2002. At that time, education was offered in eight college-level programs in full-time study across the five faculties: mechanical engineering, safety engineering, electrical engineering, business informatics, technical management, technical informatics, light industry engineering, and engineering teacher training.

In alignment with the Bologna Process, the college began preparations in 2002 for transitioning to the new two-cycle higher education system. As a result, in 2004, within a pilot project, the Neumann János Faculty of Informatics was among the first in the country to launch a BSc program in engineering informatics.

Based on a successful program launch application supported by the Hungarian Accreditation Committee, undergraduate training began in September 2005 in the fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, military and safety engineering, mechatronics engineering, and light industry engineering. Programs in technical management and business and management were launched in 2006.

In 2007, English-language training in mechatronics engineering was launched, followed in 2008 by partially German-language mechanical engineering training and the industrial product and design engineering program.

In 2005, preparations began for the launch of master’s programs in engineering informatics, technical teacher training, safety engineering, and mechatronics engineering. As a result of this process, by 2007, teaching commenced in the master’s programs of engineering teacher training (with specializations in mechanical engineering, military and safety engineering, electrical engineering, and engineering informatics) and safety engineering. In 2008, the engineering teacher training program was expanded to include specializations in light industry and business management, and education began in mechatronics engineering, engineering informatics, enterprise development, and light industry engineering.

By the end of 2009, education was being conducted in 11 undergraduate programs (9 in Hungarian, 2 in foreign languages) and in 6 master’s programs. In 2009, the Hungarian Accreditation Committee accredited the bachelor’s program in commerce and marketing, allowing its launch in 2010.

At the Bánki Donát Faculty of Mechanical and Safety Engineering, undergraduate programs offered strong IT foundations and trained highly sought-after professionals in mechanical, military and safety, and mechatronics engineering, as well as in technical instructor education. Outstanding undergraduate students could continue their studies in the master’s programs of mechatronics engineering, safety engineering, and engineering teacher training. Graduates of the two-year industrial engineering assistant program received a diploma certifying advanced vocational qualifications and could continue their studies in the mechanical engineering BSc program with credit transfer.

At the Kandó Kálmán Faculty of Electrical Engineering, undergraduate training focused on educating electrical engineers highly sought after in the economy. Building on the bachelor’s program, the faculty also offered a master’s degree in engineering teacher training for those wishing to pursue further studies. Within advanced vocational training, education was provided in electrical engineering assistant and media technology assistant programs.

At the Keleti Károly Faculty of Economics, undergraduate programs included technical management and business and management, while master’s programs were offered in enterprise development and engineering teacher training. Graduates of the two-year financial administrator training program received diplomas certifying advanced vocational qualifications. Students of the two-semester specialized postgraduate training in business consultancy (coach) were awarded diplomas as certified business consultants.

The Neumann János Faculty of Informatics was responsible for the practice-oriented, nationally recognized bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in engineering informatics. In connection with the BSc program, the faculty also offered an engineering teacher master’s program.

The Rejtő Sándor Faculty of Light Industry and Environmental Engineering provided education in bachelor’s programs in light industry engineering, industrial product and design engineering, and environmental engineering, as well as in master’s programs in light industry engineering and engineering teacher training, and in the assistant engineer program in light industry.

The Regional Education and Innovation Centre offered bachelor’s programs in electrical engineering, technical management, and engineering informatics, as well as an advanced vocational program for assistant engineers in technical informatics.

The Centre for Teacher Training and Engineering Pedagogy coordinated undergraduate training for technical instructors and master’s programs for engineering teachers in inter-faculty cooperation, tailored to technical fields.

Specialized postgraduate programs included: infocommunications (offered by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering), business consultancy (Faculty of Economics), computer network engineering (Regional Centre), vintage vehicle restoration (Faculty of Mechanical and Safety Engineering), occupational safety (same faculty), logistics controlling (Faculty of Economics), engineering management (Faculty of Economics), and lighting technology (Faculty of Electrical Engineering).

The college developed a quality management system compliant with the MSZ EN ISO 9001:2001 standard, as well as the requirements of the Ministry of Education and the Hungarian Accreditation Committee (MAB). The Quality Management Manual and its procedures were completed in 2002. The quality management system was certified in early 2004 according to the ISO 9001:2000 standard. After the first certification period, a follow-up audit was conducted, which confirmed that the college continued to meet the standard’s requirements in the fields of accredited higher education, adult education, research and development, and academic organization.

The college achieved notable success in the 2007 Higher Education Quality Award competition, announced by the Ministry of Education and Culture, earning a Bronze Level Award in the category of Higher Education Institutions. In the 2008 competition, the Visiting Committee appointed by the Prize Committee awarded 437 points based on the college’s performance. As a result, the Minister of Education and Culture presented the Silver Level Certificate of Recognition at the Senate’s Ceremonial Opening Session of the Academic Year.

A major achievement came with the 2009 Higher Education Quality Award: at the Jubilee Extended Opening Session of the Senate, the college received the highest distinction – the Higher Education Quality Award.

In 2006, among Hungarian higher education institutions, the college was the fifth—and the first among colleges—to receive the European E-Quality Label for its Erasmus activities promoting student and faculty mobility. On the 10th anniversary of the Erasmus program in Hungary (2007), the Ministry of Education and Culture awarded the college the “Excellent Erasmus Coordinator” distinction. In 2009, the institution received the Award for Excellence in International Cooperation Culture.

The success of the college’s practice-oriented training is evidenced by student achievements in national and international competitions. Especially notable were the outstanding performances of students from the Bánki Donát Faculty of Mechanical and Safety Engineering in pasta bridge-building championships—both domestic and at the Carpathian Basin level (RECCS), as well as at world championships in Canada. The Institute of Machine Structures and Safety Engineering joined the competition approximately ten years ago, and over the past seven years, its students won the most prestigious world competition organized by Okanagan University College in Canada on six occasions.

Based on results from the five domestic competitions held so far, it is fair to claim that RECCS is the world’s highest-quality pasta bridge-building competition. In 2006, for example, Balázs Vida, an architecture student from Győr, won with a nearly 400 kg load-bearing result. In 2008, the bridge built by Bánki student Márkos Szilárd Attila collapsed under 555.2 kg.

Students of the Kandó Kálmán Faculty of Electrical Engineering won the Design Challenge robotics competition in both 2008 and 2009. In the 2009 Bosch Electromobile competition, one of the Kandó teams received the award for best technical solution, another team placed second overall, and a third took third place in the speed race.

A third-year student at the Kandó Faculty, Tamás Boros, won the Hungarian round of the 2009 Mitsubishi-Scholarship international competition with his paper proposing a comprehensive educational model designed to raise the quality of electrical engineering education and, as a result, produce better-qualified engineers for the industry.

Based on experience from 2008, four Bánki teams entered the 2009 Pneumobil competition. Among 34 competing vehicles, the teams finished in the top quarter, improving on their 2nd place finish from the previous year. Following their 2008 performance, students of the Bánki Faculty also set a new national record at the Shell Eco-marathon in 2009. In the prototype category, the team surpassed its previous year’s result by traveling 100 km farther using the energy equivalent of one liter of gasoline, reaching 282 km.

A significant success compared to earlier placements was achieved at the 2009 György Hajós Mathematics Competition: the top three teams were from the Neumann János Faculty of Informatics (which won the challenge trophy), the Kandó Kálmán Faculty of Electrical Engineering, and the Bánki Donát Faculty of Mechanical and Safety Engineering.

The college teams achieved strong results at the annual national PLC automation programming competition. In 2009, the Obuda Thevenin team from the Kandó Faculty’s Institute of Automation took first place, while the Obuda Norton team came in third.

In 2008, Péter Holló, a student of the Faculty of Economics, received a gold-level certificate in the accredited English business language exam in Hungary. In 2009, Ildikó Szabó received a silver medal from Ambassador Greg Dorey at the British Embassy. That same year, the two-millionth participant of the Erasmus exchange program was Gergő Németh, a student at the Neumann János Faculty of Informatics.

At the 2009 national innovation competition “InPulse” (theme: Time Machine), organized by the Hungarian Association of Engineering Students, three teams from the college reached the final six.

In addition to their academic achievements, students also performed well in national and international sports competitions: for instance, Júlia Sebestyén won the gold medal at the 2004 European Figure Skating Championships; András Rédli, a member of the Hungarian épée fencing team, won silver at the 2009 World Fencing Championships in Antalya, Turkey; Balázs Németh, a mechatronics engineering student, closed the year with an excellent performance in the Motorcycle Racing World Championship. The college is also proud that its student team won the overall points competition at the Technical Higher Education Sports Days.