The legal predecessor of the present University of Debrecen, the institute called Hungarian Royal University was founded 100 years ago. On this occasion, the university held a 2-day celebration. The festive meeting of the Senate took place on Friday. Many prominent people were present and held speeches at the university
At first, István Fábián, the rector of the university welcomed all the guests as a host, and talked about the history of the university. As he highlighted, with its 15 faculties and 25 doctoral schools the University of Debrecen is the biggest research university of Hungary.
The State Secretary (and former Vice-Mayor) János Halász, representing the Ministry of National Resources and Lajos Kósa, Mayor of Debrecen spoke about the tradition of education dating back as early as the 16th century and that the city of Debrecen and the university have always been living in a kind of symbiosis.
József Bódi, President of the Hungarian Conference of Rectors considered the University of Debrecen as one of the fortresses of Hungarian higher education.
György Habsburg, President of the Hungarian Red cross remembered his ancestors who were decisive personalities of Hungarian history through centuries.
In the evening, there was centenary gala in Csokonai Theatre and the series of programmes continued on Saturday with the forum of cross-border Hungarian universities and a Centenary Ball in the evening.
