The soon-to-be-completed new building of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Debrecen, as well as the related National Manufacturing-Research-Education Center, suitable for pharmaceutical production, its education, and pharmaceutical research, were presented at the project closing event last week.
In a few weeks, the HUF 11.5 billion investment in the Vezér Street industrial park of the University of Debrecen (DE) will be completed, as a result of which the XXI. The DE Faculty of Pharmacy (GYTK) can move into a new three-story building of almost 3,500 square meters corresponding to the 20th century, and the National Manufacturing – Research – Teaching Central Plant belonging to the building can also start operations.
“The complex not only serves education and research, but also has production capacity. This shows that the strategic goal of the university is to enter the market and become an industrial player. This will also result in an increase in income, but at the same time it will also raise the standard of education and research” – said the University of Debrecen’s vice chancellor responsible for life sciences at the closing event of the project, which was launched in early 2021 and will end at the end of this year. József Tőssér emphasized: GYTK is one of the most dynamically developing faculties in the field of life sciences, which is thus gaining new momentum.
According to Zoltán Bács, chancellor of DE, the university has reached a major milestone. Six or seven years ago, the institution applied for several tenders through which it strives to create a unique health industry ecosystem. The infrastructural elements of these are now starting to come together and the content has made a lot of progress. “A unique health industry ecosystem is being built around the university, which is unique in Europe, and we can be proud of that. Among these, the National Manufacturing – Research – Education Center is one of the largest”, said the chancellor. Zoltán Bács also spoke about the fact that the PILOT plant was realized on the neighboring plot, where the university staff and partner companies can carry out research and development activities, and that the National Vaccine Factory is being built nearby.
“When these all start working in a few years, they will put the University of Debrecen and the pharmaceutical industry in a very good position. Knowledge that has almost completely disappeared in recent decades is being revived”, he said.
The dean of DE GYTK, the director of the Health Industry Institute, emphasized that a new era is entering the faculty’s life, they are getting a home, which positions them not only in Hungary, but also abroad. “We take into account the expectations of higher education and coordinate our courses with the needs of the labor market participants. We consider it very important to constantly follow the modern results of science and incorporate them into education. It is also thanks to this that our students can get a job extremely quickly after graduation and get into good positions” – stressed Ildikó Bácskay.
The head of the faculty added: they want to implement international standard projects in the new building, for which the entire infrastructure will already be provided. “In this way, we can seriously join the international innovation value chain in such a way that, if appropriate, we can take a product starting from basic research all the way to market introduction, which is a huge step forward” – she emphasized.
Zoltán Ujhelyi, assistant professor of the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology at DE GYTK, highlighted that the central plant will deal not only with product development and production, but also with education and popularization of science. The pharmaceutical industry is looking forward to newly graduated pharmacists with up-to-date and practical knowledge.
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