The University of Debrecen is now starting to “incorporate” pharmaceutical factories into its training system, said the state secretary responsible for innovation and higher education of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation on Friday in Debrecen, at the laying of the foundation stone for the new building of the National Manufacturing-Research-Education Center and the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Debrecen.
Balázs Hankó pointed out that with the transformation of the Hungarian higher education system – based on the “Debrecen model” based on the cooperation of the university, the city, and the economic actors – autonomous, predictable and transparently operating, competitive higher education institutions were created.
Two-thirds of the students go to the 21 model-changing, freer, more competitive universities, he said. Predictability is guaranteed by the 25-year framework agreement and the six-year agreement to secure resources, he said. He noted that compared to last year, the amount that can be spent on the development of higher education has doubled, which this year is HUF 1,000 billion.
In support of the increase in competitiveness, the state secretary said that four years ago seven Hungarian universities, two years ago nine, and last year eleven Hungarian universities belonged to the five percent of the world’s best universities, the elite universities.
Scientific publications, patents and the number of international students have increased significantly at model-changing universities. He added that every fifth of almost 42,000 foreign students attends the University of Debrecen.
Balázs Hankó also spoke about how one of the successes of Hungarian higher education is medical education, which has global accreditation, meaning that the Hungarian medical degree is also accepted in the United States of America. In these institutions, clinical care, education and research are present together, he said.
Regarding the investment in Debrecen, he also said that the sales revenue of the Hungarian pharmaceutical industry in 2021 was HUF 1,000 billion, HUF 200 billion was spent on research and development, and 2,500 of the 30,000 pharmaceutical workers are involved in research and development.
Balázs Hankó expressed his conviction that by 2030, there will be one Hungarian university that will be among the top hundred universities in the world, and three universities that will be among the top hundred universities in the European Union.
György Kossa, chairman of the board of trustees of the Gróf Tisza István Foundation for the University of Debrecen, said that the investment will create a health science ecosystem unique in Central and Eastern Europe in the university industrial park. “An autonomous university is also capable of exemplary, unique innovation in Europe,” added the president.
The building of the central plant and the Faculty of Pharmacy will be built with tender funds of nine billion forints next to the national vaccine factory, and will be handed over in October of this year, said Zoltán Bács, chancellor of DE, at the ceremony.
Ildikó Bácskay, director of the Health Industry Institute, indicated that in addition to the university’s own projects, the new research center also provides research and production opportunities for industrial partners connected to the health industry cluster created by the institution, which is unique in our country in terms of general university operations.
According to the plans, the building consists of two central functional units. One part of the building provides a suitable infrastructural background for the theoretical and practical training and teaching and research activities of the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Health Industry Institute, while the other part will serve as a GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certified medium plant for a pharmaceutical manufacturer, as well as a functional food and dietary supplement production unit. to operate.
The new facility provides students with the opportunity to get to know the entire vertical of pharmaceutical production in one place. The knowledge learned in the classes can be tested in the pharmaceutical technology laboratories, and then the results of the research and development activity can be manufactured in a medium-sized plant – it was said at the foundation stone laying ceremony.
MTI
Photo: The construction of the building of the National Manufacturing-Research-Education Center in Debrecen, in the University Industrial Park on Vezér Street, on March 3, 2023. On this day, the foundation stone of the new building of the National Manufacturing-Research-Education Center and the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Debrecen was laid. The building of the central plant and the faculty of pharmacy will be built with tender funds of nine billion forints next to the national vaccine factory and will be handed over in October of this year. MTI/István Derencsényi
