{"id":45562,"date":"2025-08-14T12:02:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T10:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/?p=45562"},"modified":"2025-08-14T12:20:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T10:20:23","slug":"imre-richard-nagy-the-students-union-is-adapting-its-workings-to-generational-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/2025\/08\/imre-richard-nagy-the-students-union-is-adapting-its-workings-to-generational-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Imre Rich\u00e1rd Nagy: The Students’ Union is adapting its workings to generational changes"},"content":{"rendered":"
Imre Rich\u00e1rd Nagy, the recently elected president of the Students’ Union at Semmelweis University, considers prioritizing housing, social, and scholarship issues, as well as strengthening student representation and securing its next generation, to be his most important short-term tasks. He also plans to implement changes to the organization and methodology, as well as revamp several student events.<\/div>\n

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The Students’ Union (H\u00d6K) at Semmelweis University must adapt its operations to meet the changing needs and expectations of students, emphasizes Imre Rich\u00e1rd Nagy, who was elected as the new president<\/a> in July. He is the first pharmacy student in the history of the Students’ Union to hold this position. He adds that the newly admitted Generation Alpha students have completely different needs and expectations; they have other priorities and require new ways of motivating them and capturing their attention. As president, he wants to prepare the organization for these challenges. To this end, since his election, the president, who serves a two-year term, has consulted with university student organizations and senior management, both within and outside H\u00d6K.<\/p>\n

Having served as vice president in the previous term, he says he has a good understanding of where the organization’s activities need improvement. The groundwork for reconstituting the operations of the Students\u2019 Union has been laid, as the Delegates\u2019 Assembly has approved the necessary amendments to the statutes. These changes also affect how the H\u00d6K Presidium operates. Following the Senate\u2019s approval, the position of presidential delegate for strategy and finance will be elevated to the level of vice president as of September, while the vice president for internal administration will continue his work as vice president for organization development to address upcoming challenges. In addition, the position of presidential delegate for mentoring programs was created, as the organization intends to pay special attention to improving students’ mental health.<\/p>\n

“I gained firsthand insight into students’ problems when I was a member of the Social Welfare Committee. After participating in several mentoring programs as a mentor, both as the institutional coordinator of the Stipendium Hungaricum program and in the Faculty of Pharmacy’s mentoring program, it became even more obvious to me how important it is to pay attention to students’ mental health,\u201d says the president. He believes that special attention should be given to performance deterioration and anxiety caused by various issues that can cast a shadow over student life and, in some cases, lead to deferred studies.<\/p>\n

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I promote the operation and intend to increase the visibility of mentoring programs to show students that they have options: They can contact mentors, student advisors, and, in the case of more serious problems, they can even seek professional help within the university at the Institute of Behavioral Sciences, the Institute of Mental Health, or the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Imre Rich\u00e1rd Nagy believes that providing mental health support from H\u00d6K will further reduce dropout rates.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Mentoring programs<\/a> are not restricted to promoting mental health but also prioritize providing useful information about state and university talent development programs, the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship, the Diaspora mentoring program, the H\u00d6OK mentoring program for students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, and the mentoring programs at individual faculties. In these programs, senior students mentor younger students in a structured setting. This has been operating for the longest period and most successfully at the Faculty of Medicine, but it has also been launched at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Andr\u00e1s Pet\u0151 Faculty. In some cases, mentoring is rewarded not only with credits but also with scholarships. The president adds that the Students’ Union considers it important for other faculties to offer such programs and will begin discussions on their implementation and support. Several faculty leaders are in favor of this initiative, so Imre Rich\u00e1rd Nagy is confident that the Students’ Union will be able to actively negotiate with the university administration about the programs.<\/p>\n

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He adds that their medium to long-term goal is to cooperate with the National Alliance of Students\u2019 Unions (H\u00d6OK) to increase the amount of student scholarships. In addition, discussions were initiated with the university management regarding opportunities within the institution. As for the latter, he cited the introduction of clinical work this year as a positive example. It attracts an increasing number of medical students by offering financial benefits, the opportunity to earn credit points, and the chance to gain experience.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Due to generational differences, the president also considers ensuring the succession of the Student Union to be a significant challenge, which requires operational and methodological reforms. “In my experience, younger people are much more interested in being members of the community than in being leaders. Therefore, greater attention will need to be paid to recruiting members who have the potential to become leaders,” notes Imre Rich\u00e1rd Nagy. To this end, they will promote the activities of the Students’ Union, social support or performance-based scholarships, and dormitory options at upcoming events such as the Freshers’ Meet, the Summer University, and the Freshman Camp.<\/a><\/p>\n

Imre Rich\u00e1rd Nagy believes that student representation cannot be successful without commitment, a willingness to help, and humbleness. To achieve this, the Presidium plans to support engaged students by organizing necessary community development training courses and offering personalized skills development. The vice president for organization development will play a significant role in this, adds Imre Rich\u00e1rd Nagy, who also plans to strengthen faculty-specific student representation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In the long term, the president also intends to expand the Green University Project<\/a> by incorporating more sustainability initiatives proposed by students. \u201cWe are considering holding an idea competition in which students could submit fully developed concepts that they could then implement,\u201d explains Imre Rich\u00e1rd Nagy, recalling last academic year\u2019s pilot project to renew the drinking fountain at the Basic Medical Science Center. In consultation with Dr. \u00c9va Szab\u00f3 Feket\u00e9n\u00e9, Vice-Rector for Strategy and Development, H\u00d6K plans to install eight to ten similar drinking fountains at major campus sites in the upcoming academic year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The new president would like to strengthen cooperation with other university student organizations, including international student representations, to promote and revamp the Freshers’ Ball, the Semmelweis Carnival<\/a>, and the Spring Festival, which offer a true student life experience. He also urges that more faculty councils include international student members. He plans to give the International Students’ Committee<\/a> a greater role within the organization because he believes it is important to organize joint cultural events that attract Hungarian and international students alike. Additionally, the committee-run Language Club<\/a> is expected to launch its French course soon.<\/p>\n

Imre Rich\u00e1rd Nagy is confident that, as president, he will be able to make a meaningful contribution to the renewal of the Students’ Union and the representation of students’ interests over the next two years.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Imre Rich\u00e1rd Nagy is a third-year pharmacy student. He has been actively involved in student representation since his freshman year. He started his career in H\u00d6K’s Student Welfare Committee, a group that has remained close to his heart ever since. He later became a member of the university’s Committee for Students\u2019 Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. He later became a member of the Delegates’ Assembly and was elected to the Faculty Council. He played a significant role in shaping the current structure of the Green University Project, including designing the \u201cGreen University: Together for Our Environment\u201d elective course. He also helped launch Green University Day, which marks the start of Summer University<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Melinda Katalin Kiss
\nTranslation: Judit Szabados-D\u0151tsch
\nPhotos by B\u00e1lint Barta; illustration: B\u00e1lint Barta, Attila Kov\u00e1cs \u2013 Semmelweis University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The newly elected president shares his agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102255,"featured_media":45564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,286],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45562","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\/45562","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=45562"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45570,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45562\/revisions\/45570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}