Dr. Károly Rácz, president of the Doctoral Council, is seeking to strengthen the international position of the University’s School of Ph.D. Studies. “The standard and quality of training must be maintained, while research results will be increasingly made available in English,” he opined.
While the proportion of foreign students in the University’s undergraduate programmes is already high, this ratio is much smaller at the School of Ph.D. Studies, standing at roughly 10-15 percent. Professor Rácz’s goal is to increase not only this number, but the School’s visibility on an international level as well. To this end, the University is planning, based on Rector Tivadar Tulassay’s idea, to establish scholarships for foreign Ph.D. students. “We need to find funding for this, but I trust it can be arranged,” Dr. Rácz said.
According to a decision made by the Doctoral Council in the interest of strengthening its international presence, participants in the University’s Ph.D. Scientific Days student conference will now be required to publish their abstracts in English and are recommended to give their lectures in English as well.
The School of Ph.D. Studies is set to release a three-volume English-language compilation by year’s end, containing the most important statistics, thesis abstracts and publications of the past five years.
Dr. Károly Rácz also touched upon the fact that each year more students meet the School of Ph.D. Studies’ admission criteria than can be admitted. One hundred state-funded Ph.D. students were admitted to the School in fall 2011, which is ten percent of Hungary’s total state-allocated scholarship quota. The number of scholarship places at Semmelweis University had been 80 in recent years; the current rise in number comes thanks to the University’s ministerial distinction as a “Research University”.
“From an efficiency standpoint, Semmelweis University ranks second among Hungarian higher education institutions with doctoral schools,” Professor Rácz stated, who considers maintaining a high quality standard just as important. “Quality training above all else; in this, there cannot be any compromise,” he asserted. The School of Ph.D. Studies’ instructors ensure a significant portion of this quality, in recognition of which Outstanding Ph.D. Instructor distinctions are given to the University’s highest achieving personalities.
Dr. Rácz believes there is one area where there is room for improvement, namely that not enough of the prospective Ph.D. students are aware of the various types of support the University offers them. Travel grants are available for students participating in scientific conferences, for example, a form of assistance awarded to around 80 percent of those who apply for it. Students can also seek support for publication activities and personal benefits related to their participation in research projects.
Szilvia Tóth-Szabó
Translated by Gina Gönczi
