The University of Pécs is the oldest Hungarian University whose foundation dates back to the Late Middle-Ages. In the middle of the 14th century four universities were founded in Central Europe within a time-span of two decades: Prague, Cracow, Vienna and Pécs. The Hungarian king, Louis the Great of the Anjou dynasty established the first Hungarian university in Pécs in 1367. The history of Hungarian higher education goes back to this date.

The Universityof Pécs is one of the largest institutions of higher education in Hungary. Withits 28,000 students and 500 different study programmes the university offers awide spectrum of teaching and research activities that is known and recognized well beyond the country’s borders.

The University of Pécs comprises the following ten faculties:

Faculty of Adult Education and Human Resources Development

Faculty of Business and Economics (School of Economics)

Faculty of Health Sciences

Faculty of Humanities

Faculty of Law (Law School)

Faculty of Music and Visual Arts

Faculty of Sciences

Illyés Gyula Faculty of Education

Faculty of Medicine (Medical School)

Pollack Mihály Faculty of Engineering and Informatics

In September 2006, a modern higher educational training system initiated by the European Union was introduced in Hungary too, known as the Bologna process, which offers students an opportunity to pursue their studies in a dynamically developing, convertible European higher educational system. The traditional college and university level training programmes were replaced by a three-tier system consisting of a basic training programme (BA, BSc), a master level programme (MA, MSc), and doctoral level (PhD, DLA) programme.

The University has been offering full study programmes with English medium for three decades and with German for seven years. An increasing number of international students and researchers have been coming from over 80 countries to the University of Pécs to study and conduct research year by year. We are proud to host about 2,000 international students from 60 countries worldwide. The University continuously works on expanding and improving its co-operation with universities and research institutes in Europe, the United States of America and Asia. The University of Pécs is an active member of several university networks. Currently we offer Degree Programmes, Doctoral Programmes, StudyAbroad Programmes, Summer and Winter Schools and Preparatory Courses for our international students, taught in English and German.

The University of Pécs has participated in the Erasmus mobility programme since 1998 withincreasing intensity. The main objective is to provide specific academic and teaching opportunities to our students and professors to help them deepen their knowledge, competences and skills at partner institutions while working and studying in international environments. We have twice received the Erasmus Quality Award for our achievements. We receive about 200 incoming Erasmus students from all countries of Europe on an annual basis and provide the opportunity for 350students of ours to pursue their studies at our Erasmus partner institutions. Our university is very active in the CEEPUS mobility programme.

The University of Pécs plays an active role in the different international university associations (EAIE, EUA, Danube Rectors’ Conference, Alps-Adriatic Rectors’Conference, Compostela Group of Universities). Moreover, the University of Pécsoperates the Secretariat of two distinguished university associations, the University Network of the European Capitals of Culture (UNEECC) and the Alliance of Universities for Democracy (AUDEM). The University of Pécs continuously works on internationalizing the university in order to meet the demands of a modern, 21stcentury higher education.