{"id":44241,"date":"2025-03-27T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T05:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/?p=44241"},"modified":"2025-08-14T10:36:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T08:36:40","slug":"semmelweis-green-university-project-celebrates-its-fourth-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/2025\/03\/semmelweis-green-university-project-celebrates-its-fourth-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"Semmelweis Green University Project celebrates its fourth birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Green University Project was launched in April 2021 as an elective course. Since then, the initiative has grown to a community of more than 2,500 members, with activities ranging from Summer University lectures to park cleanups. We met project leader Ren\u00e1ta Dalma Mikl\u00f3s at this year\u2019s Vintage Market, who gave an account of the past four years\u2019 achievements.<\/div>\n

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The 2025 spring semester of the Green University Project\u2019s extracurricular event series kicked off with a Vintage Market on March 20-21, attracting hundreds of students and staff. Our guide at the event was Ren\u00e1ta Dalma Mikl\u00f3s, now a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, who has headed the project for almost two years. She took over leadership from project initiator and driving force Imre Rich\u00e1rd Nagy, now General Vice-President of the Students\u2019 Union (H\u00d6K). Before we delve into the treasure hunt, Ren\u00e1ta Mikl\u00f3s gives an overview of the progress achieved by their team of 30.<\/p>\n

The Green University Project<\/a> operates under H\u00d6K. Its six-member management team includes designated coordinators for logistics, education, and media, as the project appears on all social media surfaces of the Students\u2019 Union. Its more than twenty project members represent all faculties of the university. Besides offering thematic activities, the team regularly sets up its stand at student events like the Carnival or the Freshman Camp, where they invite attendees to play games for sustainable prizes like reusable cups or bamboo cutlery sets.<\/p>\n

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All of our events are open to students from all language programs. In my experience, international students are actively engaged in all green projects. \u2013 Ren\u00e1ta Mikl\u00f3s<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>The project leader shares that the 2021 initiative has evolved from its humble beginnings as a two-credit elective course to a wide spectrum of activities, including the Summer University, markets, community programs, awareness raising, and much more. The project\u2019s social media platform, which has attracted an online \u2013 and offline \u2013 community of more than 2,500 members, all current and former Semmelweis Citizens, allows the team to keep members updated and raise consciousness about sustainability, with topics such as recycling or protecting wildlife. They use these occasions to share some everyday low-effort tips that may still make a difference, like the use of water bottles, which has become much more prevalent compared to the time when Ren\u00e1ta Mikl\u00f3s was a fresher.<\/p>\n

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One of the flagship events is Green University Day<\/a>, which debuted last year as Day Zero of the 6th<\/sup> Summer University in two languages, featuring 24 speakers. Thanks to its success, it is planned to be incorporated into the 2025 Semmelweis Summer University as Day 1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The “Green University \u2013 Together for Our Environment” elective course has remained an integral part of the project, available for 150 students each semester. The course is so popular that all spots are booked in a few seconds. This spring, the practice-oriented workshops are supplemented with theoretical lectures, both in English and Hungarian, where the speakers offer a glimpse into different perspectives of green consciousness from activism through nature photography to less-waste fashion. The course, whose completion requires attending at least two practical sessions and one lecture, is open to all language programs, with 80 Hungarian, 50 English, and 20 German-language participants. The practical sessions are usually offered in English, making it possible for participants from all language programs to network.<\/p>\n

One such non-lecture session, open to not just course attendees but also anyone interested, is hiking through the Buda hills, starting in spring.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Bogl\u00e1rka Zellei – Semmelweis University (illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another outdoor activity is community gardening, done in collaboration with the Park Maintenance Department at the Directorate of Services as a key partner. This offers an opportunity to install raised bed gardens and spruce up the outdoor spaces at the university dormitories. One recent example of the latter was the opening of an outdoor fitness park<\/a> a few months ago, which was realized as a cooperation between the Directorate of Dormitories and the Green University Project and was supported and coordinated by the Students\u2019 Union. These efforts are directed at making community places more environmentally conscious. For instance, more than a hundred selective waste bins have been installed on university premises. Plans also include renewing the drinking fountain at the Basic Medical Science Center\u2019s library, making it easier for students to refill their water bottles.<\/p>\n

Besides caring for university citizens and premises, the Green University Project also attaches importance to community engagement. They regularly organize litter cleanups in parks and plan to join the nationwide cleanup campaign this spring, the project leader points out.<\/p>\n\r\n [slb_exclude]\r\n

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Jessica is a second-year medical student in the German program. \u201cSince I have a lot of stuff I don\u2019t want or need anymore, I thought it would be a good opportunity to give it a new home. It\u2019s the first time that I have participated in a Green University event. I\u2019ve heard a lot about it previously. In my everyday life, I regularly opt for second-hand myself. I\u2019m also conscious about my food choices, I\u2019m looking for local and seasonal produce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Community transport is a major part of Nilofer Bunyadi\u2019s green routine. Besides being a regular thrift shopper, she also uses online platforms to sell her pre-loved items. \u201cIt\u2019s my first time at the Vintage Market; I just saw it yesterday on the \u2018studentsofsemmelweis\u2019 Instagram page. I\u2019m excited to see how it turns out,\u201d says the second-year medical student.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Vintage Market is organized for the third time, enabling students \u2013 and from this year, staff \u2013 to sell their fashion items and thus reduce their environmental footprint. Donated clothes accumulating during the event will then be gifted to a women\u2019s shelter, making it another perfect example of community outreach characterizing the Green University Project.<\/p>\n

Judit Szabados-D\u0151tsch
\nPhotos by: B\u00e1lint Barta \u2013 Semmelweis University, Midi\u00e1n Ruha \u2013 Students\u2019 Union; cover by Midi\u00e1n Ruha \u2013 Students\u2019 Union<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The initiative has grown to a community of more than 2,500 members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102255,"featured_media":44257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,286],"tags":[325,101],"class_list":["post-44241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-x-nyitolap","tag-community","tag-students-union"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44241","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\/102255"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44241"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45560,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44241\/revisions\/45560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}