Though, students eager to learn living East of the Rhine and North of the Alps did not have another chance for centuries but to leave for the above mentioned universities and study there. Studying at foreign universities, 'peregrination', was the basic form of obtaining higher level education for the nations of the Central European countries, so it was true with the Hungarians, for centuries. Moreover, in certain regions it remained the only way of higher education up to the 20th century. The Hungarian clergy had been educated in foreign universities from the very beginning. Many prelates of Hungarian King Béla III, who had excellent connections in France, had been educated in Paris. The author of the very first Hungarian 'gesta', Magister P, who is known as Anonymus, too, also learnt in Paris. Miklós (Nicholas) of Hungary (known as Nicolaus clericus de Hungaria) studied in Oxford at the end of the 12th century, and a great number of Hungarian students attended courses in Bologna in the beginning of the 13th century. It was that time when Paulus Hungarus returned from that university to organize the Hungarian Province of the Order of St. Dominic.
In our region, the first renowned university was established in Prague in 1348, then it was followed by the foundation of the Krakow university in 1364 and that of Vienna in 1365. From our point of view, Vienna was the most important university centre, where, soon after its opening, the independent Hungarian university community was established and since then the presence of Hungarian students was almost uninterrupted in the Austrian city. Hungarian interest in Prague increased in the 14th century, while in the Krakow university in the 15th century. There were times when one quarter of students in Krakow were Hungarians.
Prior to the establishment of the first university in Hungary, there were 40 universities established in Europe, including 18 in Italy, 10 in France, 7 in the Iberian Peninsula, 2 in England and 3 in Central Europe.
Hungary, like the other countries of the region, followed the trends of European development, and through its wandering students, peregrines, keep pace with the scientific developments of the age. However, the peculiarity of Hungarian development was that even the repeated attempts of the Hungarian kings to establish a permanent university that would had survived the Ottoman occupation and maintained higher education in the country, had always failed.
Like all over in Europe, mediaeval universities in Hungary developed from the capitular schools. It is an interesting though debated datum that King László IV compared the capitular school of Veszprém with the university of Paris in his charter of 18 November, 1276. This datum, of course, indicates only an intention and ambitious plans but not the fact that a university was in operation in Veszprém.
The Pécs University was of royal establishment, and though without theological faculty it was incomplete, but at the time of its establishment it corresponded with the standards and development level of the age and the region. The extended international relations of the chancellor, the strong royal power in Lajos the Great's Hungary, the geological situation of the city of Pécs and its bishopric and its relations with the Mediterranean region, were all to help the foundation of the university of Pécs. Sources of later date - like in his travelogue, 'Chronicle of a Traveller', Turkish Evliya (elebi - wrote about a compound consisting of 70 rooms in the bishop's castle, in the vicinity of the cathedral, which could be considered as a student's quarter, and could seem to be almost unbelievable. Though, during the latest excavations in Pécs, archeologists found a huge building, and fragments of courts of arms which all indicate that the remnants of the mediaeval university compound have been found.
Unfortunately, very few written data have been survived on history of the university. Galvano Bethini of Bologna was the most famous professor of the university. He received dazzling salary from King Lajos, eight times higher than any university professor in Krakow at that time. Thanks to Asztrik Gábriel, we have known about some other doctors and masters of the Pécs university as well. Characteristic and interesting data can be learnt from the student's life from letters of complaint found in a Roman mansion, about the fights and even murders among the university students. Injuries and accidents due to the fact that students were allowed to carry weapons were characteristic of the university life of that age, so considering this there were no big differences between Pécs and Paris, or Bologna.
The University of Pécs obviously came to a crisis after the death of its founder, King Lajos the Great. It was quite usual as the same happened to the universities in Krakow and Vienna, though there, the monarches of later time re-established the institutes and with grants revived and further developed the higher educational units of their countries. Strangely, Hungarian monarchs did not follow those examples but tried to establish universities in various cities. From the 1380s more and more former students of the Pécs university continued their studies in Prague or Vienna, though it is presumable that the Pécs university still existed in the beginning of the 15th century, and in the lack of royal support, it was transformed to episcopal school, i.e. 'scola maior', which possibly existed until the Ottoman occupation.
The Papal bull - similarly to other universities of that time - assigned the incomes of the provostship to cover the expenses of the university and the salaries of its professors, and appointed Provost Lukács to the chancellor of the Óbuda university as well as to the Bishop of Csanád. In 1395, the Pope permitted the establishment of a complete four-faculty university, however, we do not have data whether training was started in each faculty. In the summer of 1396 Johannes de Horow, magister of arts and sciences at the Vienna university, requested permission to leave for the Buda university. However, the attractive force of the new university could be limited, as the number of Hungarian students in the Prague or Vienna university did not dropped significantly after its opening.
In 1402, an extended social movement developed in Buda, aiming at the democratic transformation of the city management and administration. The movement coincided with the national revolt against Zsigmond, and the rebels wished to enthrone László of the Naples-house. By 1403 Zsigmond overcame the revolt, and re-established his positions in the capital by force. Presumably, the leaders of the university were also involved in the rebellion, and it is supposed that the king closed the university in 1403.
The relation of Zsigmond and the Papacy became normal in 1410, after the election of the so called synodical popes, and the king sent Pipo Ozorai, Land-stewart of Temes, to conduct negotiations with Pope John XXIII. The first sign of improving relations was that the Pope signed the deed of re-establishment of the Óbuda university on 1 August, 1410. The university could have the four classical faculties, enjoying all the privileges that were granted to the big universities in Europe. It is supposed that not only the country's needs but also international development could play a significant role for requesting the re-opening of the Buda university. It happened in 1409 that the followers of Jan Hus gained majority in the Prague university, and German students and teachers left the Bohemian capital to establish their own university in Leipzig. It is obvious that Zsigmond thought it necessary to establish a university that could be controlled more directly. We have more information on the second period of the university, including that the Buda provost remained the chancellor of the institute and that, in 1411, Zsigmond appointed Gelderni Sluter Lambert, theology professor of the Vienna university, to this post.
Magister Paul of Prague and many of his colleagues also helped to organize the Buda university. Johannes Wrede, former student of the Cologne university, who was chosen to be the lector of the Buda provostship in 1402, was also giving lectures at the university. So, in the 1410s royal support won excellent teachers for the Buda university and students graduated as bachelors of sciences in the Buda university could continue their studies at other universities in Central Europe.
The representatives of the most important European universities were also present at the most important historical event of the age, the Council of Constance, which put an end to schism. According to the records made by Ulrich Richental, seven teachers of the Óbuda university were present as members of the German academic nation. However, the activity of some of these teachers in Buda is still not proved, as well as we don't know whether a medical faculty existed in Buda or not, though some records mention Simon Clostein, who studied medicine in Prague, among the professors of the university.
Provost and Chancellor Sluter left Buda in 1418, the latest, as he became the rector of the Vienna university a year later. After 1419 there are no records on the operation of the Óbuda university, and Zsigmond, who was engaged in international politics obviously did not think it important to support the institute any longer. Besides this personal reason, Buda or rather Óbuda itself was not so developed to be the site of a real university and the society did not require the great number of secular intelligentsia. Secular intellectuals, and only in limited number, appeared in the country at the end of the century. For, the development of this class would lay the foundations of the lasting operation of an independent Hungarian university.
Thanks to his excellent international connections, Vitéz could win respected teachers to joint the university. The most famous of them was Johannes Müller or Regiomontanus, of Königsberg, a renowned professor of astronomy in Europe. Martinus Ilkusz was another reputed astronomer, who went to Italy from Krakow and later joined the Pozsony university. Besides the two astronomers, records also mention theologians, lawyers and philosophers to work in Pozsony. The student's quarter, the 'bursa' was also mentioned in records.
The destiny of the Pozsony university was sealed by the personal fate and political carrier of its chancellor, János Vitéz. In 1471, both János Vitéz and Janus Pannonius took part in the revolt against King Matthias and the king arrested both prelates. Soon after his arrest, Vitéz died in Esztergom, while Janus Pannonius escaped to Zagreb, where he died in 1472. The university lost its two most significant patrons, and Matthias showed indifference to the institute established by Vitéz. After 1472 a great number of outstanding teachers left Pozsony and many students continued their studies in the university of the neighbouring Vienna.
After King Matthias occupied Vienna in 1485, he extended his patronage over the university, therefore there were no reasons to operate another independent university in the near Pozsony. So the third Hungarian university had to suffer the same fate as its predecessors, after a short period of development, it declined quickly and ceased to exist even during the reign of its founder monarch.
It is definite that the St. Dominic Studium Generale in Buda, which was often called a university in those days, trained its students in arts and sciences and theology, and could grant scientific degrees. However, there are no records whether the college was open for others but the members of the order, though King Matthias intentions would indicate this fact. The institute remain in operation after the death of King Matthias.
The Grand Master of the order discussed the issues of the Buda college in 1495 and 1507, confirming its statutes and stating that the institute followed the example of the Bolognese institute, though training its students only in philosophy and theology. The order sent professors graduated in Paris to improve training in the Buda college and its operation continued until the 1530s. The St. Dominic order planned to open a new Studium Generale in Nagyszeben, Transsylvania, right before the Ottoman occupation, but due to the appearance of the Reformation this attempt failed. In 1541, the Ottoman power broke into the country and occupied Buda and the central region of Hungary. Some experts state that the St. Dominic order escaped to the city of Kassa and what is definite it ceased to exist by the middle of the 16th century. Consequently, studying in foreign higher educational units remained the only way to get university degrees for the Hungarian youth.
The other change had a more direct effect on Hungarian education, including higher education itself. As a result of the Reformation, the formerly united Christianity divided into various branches, and Hungary's population became the religiously most proportioned one in Central Europe. It was of particularly characteristic that within the ethnically mixed population, various religions gained ground within each ethnic groups e.g. Roman Catholics, Calvinists, Lutherans and Unitarians were among the Hungarian population in Transsylvania, or the German or Slovak populations of the country were also divided, being Roman Catholics or Lutherans.
The third radical change was the results of great geographical discoveries. Hungary and the countries of the region suddenly found themselves at the edge of the 'extending world', and the events determining economic and social development in Europe took place far away from this region.
The struggle of Reformation and Counter-Reformation had an animating effect on the European higher education, as both Catholics and Protestants were interested in the training of well educated, qualified theologians, philosophers, lawyers and natural scientists in later years. Beginning with the first third of the 16th century, universities operated by the various denominations opened one after the other in Central Europe, where philosophy and theology were thought in accordance with the spiritual attitude of the denomination of the majority of the population of the given province, and accordingly the majority of students were Lutherans, Calvinists or Roman Catholics. This kind of closure was unfavourable for the development of general science, though it had positive effects on the rapid establishment and development of the institutional structure of higher education.
Following the Reformation, all the three significant denominations, the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran and the Calvinist, made attempts to the re-establishment of higher education in Hungary. The developments in the 16th and 17th centuries provided the opportunity to establish new, up-to-date university or universities of complete structure in Hungary. As a result of the Reformation, primary and secondary education extended to greater population in Europe, and by taking over church and city schools or by establishing new schools, the citizens and landlords who were converted to Protestants could obtain new and multi-level training. Completing elementary schools, the offsprings of the wealthy citizens were educated in grammar-schools ('Gymnasiums') giving classical education. The stratum of noble and bourgeois origin that needed high level of education for a carrier in state or city institutions or in the holy orders, were ever increasing. Therefore, classes of academic type were required in the new schools to provide high level knowledge in the absence of universities. As a result of adaptation to social and political circumstances and to meet the above mentioned needs, a special type of school developed in Hungary, which is known as college-type school. According to the various denominations, these schools having college departments, were called 'College' by the Calvinists, 'Liceum' by the Lutherans and 'Academy' by the Roman Catholics, in case of Jesuit schools. Protestant schools of this type were able to meet the country's needs, however, those who wished to qualify higher level of education, went to complete their studies at Protestant universities abroad after being educated in academic courses in Hungary.
In Protestant 'Colleges' and 'Liceum' higher education was not structurally divided from the other parts of the school, there were no opportunity to gain scientific degrees either, and the forms and contents of higher education showed significant differences. However, one subject was genuine part of the training in Protestant colleges, and it was theology classes, as these denominations attached great importance to religious knowledges, as organic part of erudition. Consequently, training in philosophy (arts and sciences) of the classical universities was missing in the curriculum of the colleges of 'incomplete' training structure, though, it always included theology. However, it could only meet the needs of a given denomination, therefore it cannot be considered as the primary phase of university education. Consequently, only a thorough examination of the curriculum and structure of a college can give an answer to the question whether the institute was a higher level educational unit or not. We can state that only the schools of so called 'complete structure' can be considered to meet these requirements, i.e. following secondary training, students attended courses on philosophy and theology as well.
In Catholic schools, 'Academies', college and university training were separated from secondary training more definitely, due to Ratio Studiorum, the educational statutes of the Order of Jesuits, issued in 1599. In fact, Jesuit Academies were incomplete universities having two faculties, and a three-year preparatory training in philosophy and in arts and sciences was followed by a four-year course in theology. These academies could give scientific degrees, and their training level qualified their students to attend higher level courses in foreign universities. Consequently, however, to less extent than in the case of Protestants, peregrination was also a way to attend university courses abroad for Hungarian Catholics as well.
The most renowned Calvinist colleges of the country were from the 60s of the 16th century, based on Lutheran initiatives in some cases or independently in other cases, though higher education was not included in the curriculum. The college of Debrecen was established in 1538, while the famous Calvinist schools of Sárospatak and Pápa in 1531, but higher education, academic classes were started only in later years.
The two most interesting and long-range Calvinist initiatives in higher education were connected to Transsylvania and its two outstanding historical personalities. Thanks to his outstanding diplomatic talents, Gábor Bethlen, who took the princedom's throne in 1613 with Turkish military assistance, was able to make the small and partially independent Transsylvania prosper, against hostile great powers and while severe conflicts took place in Europe.
Gábor Bethlen also planned to lay the foundations of the institutions of academic training in Transsylvania as well. On 1 May, 1620, he established a college in Gyulafehérvár, the capital of the princedom. Two years later, in 1622, the diet declared the institute to be an 'academium collegium' (academic college) and to be developed to a real university as well as that the Prince would provide the financial bases for its operation. Martin Opitz, renowned German philosopher became the leader of the Gyulafehérvár academy as early as in 1622, however, he spent only a short time in Transsylvania. Due to the fact that the Princes of Transsylvania granted significant sums for scholarships, peregrination of Hungarian protestant students became a common way of attending higher education courses abroad. The long-range aim was as well to educate a new generation of scholars who would later became the teachers of the would-be academies in the country.
Considering the social structure of the 17th century Hungary, Apáczai's most revolutionary proposal was that the prince would raise the children of feudal tenants, who 'were born to be servants' to nobility in recognition of passing certain exams at the university. His plan of a modern university was also included proposals for the establishment of a library, a printing office, a botanic garden and even a students' canteen.
This generous plan was compiled in one of the most tragic periods of Hungary's history. The allies fell off from György Rákóczi II, who launched an attack on Poland without the consent of the Ottoman court, and the defenceless Transsylvania was raided by the hordes of the Tatar Khan of Crimea in 1658. The academy of Gyulafehérvár fell victim of the attack and it seems to be obvious that the otherwise up-to-date but unrealizable proposals of Apáczai did not enjoy support.
The Princedom of Transsylvania became the home of many Calvinist colleges that had been forced to move away from their places of foundation. The professoors and students of the Gyulafehérvár academy were moved by Prince Mihály Apafi to the city of Nagyenyed in 1662, establishing thereby one of the most significant centres of Hungarian culture and education in Transsylvania for centuries. At the turn of the century, doctor and polyhistor Ferenc Pápai Páriz, who had been studying at the Basel university, was one of the best known scholars of Nagyenyed. Though, the college of Nagyenyed suffered from the fight in Transsylvania during the Rákóczi War of Independence, and the imperial troops burnt down the city in 1705, but after the peace treaty was signed at Szatmár in 1711, the college was rebuild with the financial assistance of English Protestants and gained reputation as the most important Calvinist educational institute of Transsylvania over the 18th century.
Professors and students expelled from Sárospatak also found shelter in Transsylvania, namely at Gyulafehérvár, at the site of the former Bethlen-academy in 1672. In the 1680s the three colleges of Transsylvania, the ones in Kolozsvár, Nagyenyed and Gyulafehérvár, were put under joint control, as the idea of establishing an academy, a real university, by joining forces, came up again. After the Rákóczi War of Independence, the Calvinist college of Gyulafehérvár was forced to move away from the city in 1716, and it moved to Marosvásárhely, where the third Calvinist college of Transsylvania were still in operation for another century.
The grammar school of Pozsony, which gained the status of 'liceum' at the end of the 18th century, started to develop after 1714 when Mátyás Bél was its rector, however, it became a college only by the end of the century, similarly to the 'liceum' of Sopron.
The order of Jesuits, the most important Catholic organization of the Counter-Reformation, appeared in Hungary almost two decades after of its establishment, when in 1561, Archbishop Miklós Oláh of Esztergom invited them to his archsee, Nagyszombat, but the Jesuits left the city after six years. However, the first attempt to establish a university took place in Transsylvania, and not in Hungary Minor. The first institute of Catholic theology was established in 1568 in Kolozsvár, where, however, the Catholics were in insignificant minority and that city was one of the spiritual strongholds of Transsylvanian Unitarians as well. Prince István Báthori, who was also ascended to the Polish throne, permitted the Jesuits to establish an academy in Vilno, Poland, in 1578, and invited them to open a grammar school in Kolozsvár one year later. The Jesuits, who considered Hungary and Transsylvania in particular, an important missionary territory in later years as well, accepted the Prince's invitation with pleasure, and established a properly operating and high level secondary educational institute in the city of Kolozsvár within a relatively short period, and in accordance with their practice it was free for poor pupils. Nevertheless, Báthori's plans went beyond secondary education and on 12 May, 1581, he signed deed of foundation of the first, modern Catholic higher educational institute, the first of its kind. Though the educational regulations of the order had not been completed yet by the time of the foundation of the Kolozsvár academy, the institute was organized under the principles of the above mentioned Ratio Studiorum. The educational results of the Jesuit academy operating in a Protestant city caused political conflicts. The powerful Protestant leaders of Transsylvania thought that the operation of the academy could upset the balance among denominations, and the diet in 1588 decided to expel the Jesuits from the princedom.
It is worth mentioning the collateral characteristics of the educational policies of Péter Pázmány and the above mentioned Lutheran Prince of Transsylvania, Gábor Bethlen. These two outstanding figures of the Hungarian history, while they were devoted supporters of their religions and churches, they were both keeping the interest of the Hungarians in view when they made efforts to establish a permanent Hungarian university.
This same target was set up by Péter Pázmány when, 54 years after István Báthori's first attempt, he signed the deed of foundation of the Jesuit academy of Nagyszombat on 12 May, 1635. The founder granted one hundred thousand Hungarian forints for the establishment of the university, providing the financial sources for its operation. The two-faculty university was established according to the regulations of the Jesuit Order, and this initiative seemed to prove lasting and successful. The university was seated in the city of Nagyszombat until 1777, when it was moved to the capital, Buda. Even in his deed of foundation, Pázmány himself wrote that if Hungary would be liberated from the Ottoman occupation, the successors would have the right to move the university to a more suitable town or city.
In Transsylvania, the Jesuits re-opened their former school in Kolozsvár in 1689, however, its education level remained secondary until the middle of the 18th century. Maria Theresa granted a university degree to the Jesuit school of Kolozsvár in 1753, while training in philosophy was resumed in a streamlined form.
The new state educational policy endeavouring to extend state control over higher educational units, was gaining grounds in Transsylvania, too, in the second half of the 18th century. The Transsylvanian Protestant Churches planned to establish an inter-religious university in the 1760s and Maria Theresa gave conceptual permit in the early 1760s. The Transsylvanian Saxons proposed Nagyszeben to be the home of the first Protestant university, with law and medical faculties as well. However, the other denominations did not support the idea. The Catholic bishop of Transsylvania took the firmest stand against the plan, and insisted the further development of the Jesuit school of Kolozsvár to a complete, four-faculty university, instead of the establishment of a Protestant university. After 1767, in line with the new state educational policy, Maria Theresa rejected the plan of the Protestant university and decreed the development of the Kolozsvár university.
The Piarists took over the management of the philosophy and theology faculties of the Kolozsvár university from the Jesuits after 1773. In 1774 they established the law faculty, and temporarily, the professors and students of the Catholic seminary of Gyulafehérvár moved to Kolozsvár, too. The Vienna Court decreed the establishment of a complete medical faculty on 18 November, 1776, as only one teacher was previously lecturing surgery and obstetrics in the institute. By the end of 1776 it seemed as though the second university of complete structure would be established in Hungary and Transsylvania. However, concepts were swiftly changing in the Vienna Court in those years. After moving the university of Nagyszombat to Buda in 1777, it was thought that it would meet the higher educational needs of the country, including Transsylvania as well. Consequently, the idea of establishing a medical faculty in Kolozsvár was dropped in the summer of that year, moreover, the theology seminary moved back to Gyulafehérvár two years later. The Kolozsvár institute remained incomplete with two faculties and it was downgraded by József (Joseph) II to 'royal liceum' in 1784.
Concurrently with the events in Kolozsvár, another attempt to establish a Catholic university took place in Eger. The most important higher educational unit of the town was a law college, established by Canon György Foglár in 1740, and in the beginning it operated as an independent institution. In 1754, the Bishop of Eger upgraded the seminary to college, and together with the law academy it was extended to a three-faculty higher educational institute, which provided firm basis for high level education. Even medical training was also started in Eger in 1769. However, the king did not permit to issue doctor's degree for the medical faculty, so the medical school was closed down in Eger in 1775. By 1775 it became clear that the Royal Court held only one university necessary in Hungary, so the institute in Eger became an episcopal law academy.
Both Protestant and Catholic students went abroad first of all to attend theology courses. As the Reformation gained grounds in the county, a great number of Hungarian students studied at the famous universities of Wittenberg and Frankfurt on Oder in the 16th century. From the end of the 16th century, the universities of Germany and Switzerland became popular among Protestant students. Lutherans and Calvinists were gradually separated, however, their separation was not so formal before the 19th century. Hungarian students attended courses in the universities of Jena and Königsberg as well as in Geneva and Basel, many of them studying medicine in the latter. Calvinist students also studied at the renowned university of Heidelberg, though many of them attended courses in the new universities of the Netherlands, including the institutes in Utrecht, Leiden, Groningen, Franekar and Harderwijk, where some 430 Hungarian students were registered between 1690 and 1795. Many students studied in Protestant colleges in England. One of the most favourite universities of Lutheran students were those of Tübinga, and later, Halle. Göttinga was one of the most attractive foreign universities up until the 1830s. During this period Hungarian students attended courses at almost every academies in Central Europe, including Kiel in Northern Germany, Tartu under Swedish rule, or Herborn and Erlangen.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, students, regardless of denomination, wandered to the birthplace of humanism, Italy. In the beginning of the Counter-Reformation Catholic priesthood were also educated in Italy. Collegium Hungaricum was established in Rome in 1597, and one year later it merged the German institute and under the name of Collegium Germanico-Hungaricum, it served the training of Hungarian theologians at the Holy See until the end of the 18th century. Hungarian students attended courses many other universities in Central and Northern Italy. Collegium Ungarico-Illyricum was of unique character, educating Hungarian and Croatian students in the reputed university town of Bologna between 1553 and 1783.
Thanks to their closeness, universities in the hereditary provinces of the Habsburg empire enjoyed great popularity among Hungarian students.
Peregrination played an outstandingly important role in the 16th-18th century Hungarian higher education. Its positive effect was that Hungary maintained constant and lasting connections with the scientific centres of the Continent, and most students returned with the latest scientific knowledge from those universities.
It was of particular importance from the point of view of higher education as inexperienced emphasis was attached to education. Schools ceased to be institutions of churches, and became the first and particularly important step in the implementation of the state policy.
Usefulness or profitableness was one of the basic principles of the educational policy of the Enlightened Absolutism. Accordingly, it was desirable to obtain knowledge that would be useful for the citizens in the service of the state. It was in the interest of the ever improving central power to increase the number of citizens possessing up-to-date natural scientific knowledge.
State educational policy in Hungary was dependent on that of the Habsburgs' hereditary provinces, and followed it with a certain time-lag on the one hand. Nevertheless, it was particularly influenced by the special circumstances of the country, i.e. the less developed economic-industrial structure, opposition to centralization, religious and ethnic differences, just to mention the most important factors, on the other hand.
The main characteristic features of Habsburg imperial and state educational policy crystallized concurrently with the evolution of the principle of Enlightened Absolutism, in the second half of the rule of Maria Theresa, in the 1770s. The principle of usefulness gained grounds in every level of training, though with certain time-lag. The effects of Austrian educational reforms could be first felt in the Hungarian higher educations, particularly in the university of Nagyszombat, or later, after 1777, in the university of Buda. The establishment of the medical faculty in 1769 - in which Van Swieten, one of the senior personalities of the educational policy of Enlightened Absolutism, played a decisive role - was one of the first steps to the development of vocational training.
The institute for training mining officers, established in 1735 in Selmecbánya, gained the decree of academy in 1763 and by 1770 it became one of the most respected mining colleges in the Continent.
Engineering sciences were taught in an independent institute, Institutum Geometrico-Hydrotechnikum, in the university of Buda from 1782 on, and later in the university of Pest. Veterinarians were trained in the Institutum Veterinarium of the Pest university from 1787 on. The training of agricultural experts were initiated mainly by private personalities, and Georgicon, the first high level agricultural training institute was opened in Keszthely in 1797. The list can be followed with the Forestry Institute, opened in Selmecbánya in 1808, and the Economic Training Institute, sponsored by Prince Kázmér Albert and opened in 1818 in Magyaróvár.
This short summary indicates that almost every natural science, though on various levels, had independent training schools in Hungary at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.
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