105 Hungarian and 14 English-language pharmacy students were awarded their degrees at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences’s graduation ceremony. Zsuzsanna Urbancsok, who graduated summa cum laude, made the request for the conferment on behalf of the pharmacy students. After the oath was taken, Rector Ágoston Szél and Outgoing Dean Béla Noszál formally accepted the students as doctors of pharmacy. Dr. István Klinghammer, minister of state for higher education, was also present at the ceremony.
Torabi Seyedeh Zamzam gave an address on behalf of the international students emphasising that, having reached the end of a long road, they are now standing in the gateway of something entirely new. She also thanked her teachers, parents, and Semmelweis University.
In his speech, Dean Béla Noszál highlighted that more than 520 applicants applied for the Faculty’s 150 available state-funded places, and that Semmelweis University’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences is the only higher educational institution in the world that offers pharmacy studies in two foreign languages. He also added that the Faculty’s laboratory equipment is such that no Western-European or American university would be ashamed of owning it. In his concluding remarks, Dr. Ágoston Szél offered the students a quote from Goethe, which states that parents can give two things to their children: roots and wings. Following this logic, the rector pointed out that Semmelweis University, through its 243 years old tradition, passes on deeply rooted knowledge and information to its students, which provides a solid base for their diplomas, which represent their wings.
Pálma Dobozi
Translated by Bonifac Makkai
