{"id":44131,"date":"2025-03-17T06:00:21","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T05:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/?p=44131"},"modified":"2025-03-13T16:26:11","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T15:26:11","slug":"seek-the-closeness-of-the-patient-forum-held-for-students-to-ask-the-university-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/2025\/03\/seek-the-closeness-of-the-patient-forum-held-for-students-to-ask-the-university-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cSeek the closeness of the patient\u201d – forum held for students to ask the university leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"
Students asked the most questions about development plans, study trips abroad, and changes in education related to curricular reform at the Rector\u2019s Forum organized jointly by the Frigyes Kor\u00e1nyi College for Advanced Studies and the Students\u2019 Union. At the event held in the Basic Medical Science Center, Rector Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely and other university leaders answered both questions sent in advance and asked on the spot. In the context of the curricular reform to strengthen practical education, the rector stressed the irreplaceable importance of time spent at the bedside.<\/div>\n

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This year the Frigyes Kor\u00e1nyi College for Advanced Studies celebrates the 40th anniversary of its foundation. On this occasion, the hall is organizing a series of lectures called \u201cH\u00e1rsfa 40\u201d – linden, named after the street in which the hall is located – that is open to all students throughout the academic year, with the Rector\u2019s Forum in the Basic Medical Science Center (EOK) as the opening event, said Simon Tusn\u00e1dy, the chief organizer from the hall, in his introduction. He added that \u201cH\u00e1rsfa,\u201d founded in 1985 on the initiative of students, was the third oldest hall of its kind in the country, open only to students of Semmelweis University. Csenge Gecsey, President of the Students\u2019 Union (H\u00d6K), pointed out that the forum was living proof that the university\u2019s leadership valued students\u2019 opinion and direct dialogue.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>At the beginning of the event, Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely gave a presentation summarizing the most important information about Semmelweis University, including its position in the rankings and its international embeddedness. He emphasized that thanks to the curricular reform, education at the university – in a way that was unique in Hungary – had become practice-oriented, and its quality was guaranteed by the ever-expanding network of patient care institutions at Semmelweis. One thousand researchers and thirty research groups are working to enhance scientific excellence, and the number of active PhD students is growing dynamically, as are the number and citation rate of publications. Semmelweis University\u2019s vision is to be among the world\u2019s top 100 universities, to train the best doctors and healthcare professionals in Europe, and to be the region\u2019s engine of innovation in health and pharmaceuticals, the rector concluded.<\/p>\n

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In response to questions sent in advance and asked on the spot, Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely said that this year around HUF 50 billion was available for infrastructure development, the largest amount in the history of the institution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The construction site has been handed over and the expansion of EOK (the so-called EOK 2 project) could be completed by 2027, which will further increase student and teaching space. The development of the National Training Center for Medical Innovation (NOIKK) is underway, which will be a training and research facility of outstanding capacity even at an international level, providing space – among other things – for teaching cadaveric and robotic surgery procedures, the rector said, citing two examples of investments.<\/p>\n

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Speaking of the expansion of the patient care network, he recalled that from November 2023, the university\u2019s portfolio had been enriched with new areas such as traumatology, rehabilitation, neurosurgery, and neurointervention, and from March 1, with the integration of the National Musculoskeletal Institute (OMINT), rheumatology, physiotherapy, and immunology had also been added. From an educational point of view, this also means a broadening of the scope of practice.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>On the subject of study opportunities abroad, the rector, referring to his own career-shaping experience in Heidelberg, said that the university\u2019s leadership supported the idea that everyone should spend at least a few months abroad and return home with experience which often provided new perspectives. From June 1, 2024, the Pann\u00f3nia Scholarship Programme<\/a> has replaced Erasmus to provide this opportunity. It even allows for mobility programs of a few weeks only, which the rector said could be used to cover part of the summer internship or sixth-year placement. As for the recognition of internships abroad, the rector said he was in favor of flexibility, with appropriate assessment of the knowledge acquired. (Our article on the scholarship program is available here<\/a>.) It was also pointed out that the Jellinek Harry Scholarship to Heidelberg, which had been an exceptional opportunity for fifth-year and PhD students for decades, was open for application until the end of April this year.<\/p>\n

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In response to questions about education and the curricular reform, which has been speeded up even more this year, the rector stressed that it was very important to stand by the patient, to be able to draw blood, puncture a vein, perform cardioversion (restoration of a regular heart rhythm) if necessary, and to get used to the clinical environment. He said that the assessment of clinical education and knowledge was at least as important as that of theoretical knowledge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

There is no substitute for examining the patient and for performing small but firm diagnostic interventions on them, he noted. With regard to the 90 percent compulsory attendance rate introduced last year, the rector emphasized that this was in the interests of the students and ultimately the patients, and that the aim of the university leadership was to ensure that everyone developed through training that was practical and close to patient care. At the same time, it was desirable for the teachers of practical courses to provide flexible opportunities for catching up. As the rector said to the students present:<\/p>\n

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Medical training is not comparable to training in any other discipline, and the quality of the training, what kind of professionals students become, is specifically proportional to the time spent with patients, on practice, and on scientific research, and therefore it needs to be invested in. This is not an easy way of life and profession, but it is an interesting and uplifting one. \u2013 Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

P\u00e1lma Dobozi
\nTranslation: Dr. Bal\u00e1zs Csizmadia
\nPhotos by B\u00e1lint Barta – Semmelweis University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was the launch event of a series of lectures called \u201cH\u00e1rsfa 40.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102369,"featured_media":44134,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,286],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-x-nyitolap"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102369"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44131"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44140,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44131\/revisions\/44140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}