The university was founded by parliamentary decree in 1949. The university is the successor to the Selmecbánya University of Mining and Metallurgy (founded in 1735), thus adopting the school’s traditions, and was one of the first schools under secular control in the Habsburg Empire. After the Ausgleich, the Selmecbánya university was renamed the Royal Hungarian Academy of Mining and Forestry.
When Hungary lost its northern territories to Czechoslovakia after the Treaty of Trianon, the academy was moved from Selmecbánya (now Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia) to Sopron.
During Hungary’s socialist period, the northern regions of the country became an important industrial region. Accordingly, the government decided to establish a university in Miskolc, the largest city in the region. Construction began in 1950. The University of Miskolc was named after the then communist dictator Mátyás Rákosi. In 1952, the faculty of metallurgy was moved from Sopron to Miskolc, and the faculty of mining was split between the two cities until this faculty was also moved to Miskolc in 1957. The faculties that remained in Sopron later formed the University of Forestry, part of today’s University of Western Hungary.
From 1969 to 2000, the Dunaújváros Metallurgical College belonged to the university.
In the 1980s, the university, which had previously taught only courses related to heavy industry, began to change its profile. In 1981, a faculty of law was founded, followed by a faculty of economics in 1987. Accordingly, the university changed its name from the Technical University of Heavy Industry to the University of Miskolc. The faculty of arts was founded in 1992, and the Institute of Music (founded in 1904) joined the university in 1997.
The Comenius Teachers’ College, which joined the university in 2000, also has a rich history: it was founded in 1531 as one of the country’s first Protestant schools, and the famous Czech teacher Comenius taught there in the 17th century.
The University of Miskolc currently has over 100 faculties, around 850 lecturers and over 15,000 students.
The institution’s roots date back to 1787, when it was founded as the Chair of Animal Health within the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Budapest, shortly after the establishment of the world’s first veterinary school in Lyon in 1762. After several transitional stages, the university gained independent university status and gained a distinguished reputation worldwide.
In the 1990s, a Field Station and Large Animal Clinic were built outside Budapest, providing students with a wider range of equine and bovine services during their clinical years. Since the international programmes were launched in 1989, around 2,500 international students have enrolled.
The university is accredited by the European Association of Organisations for Veterinary Education (E.A.E.V.E.) and its diplomas are recognised not only in all EU countries but also in many other countries around the world.
