Debrecen4U June 24, 2025

There will be a change of rector at the University of Debrecen after 13 years

The director of the Faculty of Economics and the current chancellor of the institution, Professor Zoltán Bács, was the only candidate for the position of rector of the University of Debrecen, announced by the Gróf Tisza István Foundation for the University of Debrecen. The candidate presented his main ideas at a rector’s application forum on June 19. The senate of the institution supported him without any votes against or abstentions and elected Professor Zoltán Bács as the rector candidate, the university announced.

The term of office of the Rector of the University of Debrecen, Professor Zoltán Szilvássy, as Rector will expire on April 30, 2026; therefore, the maintainer, the Gróf Tisza István Foundation for the University of Debrecen, has announced a tender for the appointment of the Rector on May 1, 2026.

According to the foundation’s board of trustees, one application was received for the call by the deadline of May 16, 2025, submitted by professor and director of the Institute of Accounting and Finance of the Faculty of Economics, and the current chancellor of the institution, Zoltán Bács.

Zoltán Szilvássy has been leading the university since the summer of 2013, which means that after 13 years as rector, he will hand over the position next June.

Zoltán Bács presented his ideas to the university’s employees and students in the framework of an institutional forum on June 19 in the auditorium of the Learning Centre.

In his presentation, he looked back on the past 25 years at the University of Debrecen, highlighting the year 2007 as a milestone, when he was appointed Deputy President of the Agricultural Centre, and his activities as Chief Economic Officer from 2011 and then as Chancellor from 2014. He mentioned the change in model in 2021 as a determining factor, which means much greater autonomy and much greater responsibility for the institution than before.

He gave a detailed overview of the development of the student numbers, the continuous expansion of the enrollment area, and the countries of origin of foreign students. “Together with students, employees, and participants in public education, the Debrecen university population of almost fifty thousand is the largest in Hungarian higher education,” Zoltán Bács pointed out.

He called predictable economic conditions and transparent operation, the university operating structure established for this purpose, and the business management system extremely important. He presented the growth rate of the balance sheet total and equity, which provides a great deal of stability for the institution, and in connection with the increase in revenues, he also highlighted that the University of Debrecen has returned HUF 94 billion more to the state treasury since 2011 than it received from it for the performance of its educational and research tasks. “Examining its assets, equity, and financial assets, the University of Debrecen is currently the largest among the 12 leading higher education institutions in the country,” the rector-designate highlighted, adding that it is not only the largest but also the best among domestic institutions according to the QS ranking. The 563rd place achieved now is an extraordinary recognition among the nine thousand universities ranked out of almost 28 thousand higher education institutions in the world.

Speaking of his motivation for applying for the rectorship, he mentioned several factors: the work of the past 20 years, the challenges of the next period, the implementation of the structural and methodological changes necessary due to continuous growth, and last but not least, service to the university, since that does not mean work but life for him, in addition to family and sports.

Describing his leadership plans, he emphasised that the University of Debrecen has become the most complex economic organisation and one of the largest employers in Hungary today, which requires developments in operation and structure for further development. He is thinking of a rector position with a managerial approach, in which the two priority university areas: education and science, will be managed by vice-rectors who will be given the title of president as the top leaders of the area. In addition, an international and a sectoral vice-rector will perform horizontal tasks, and a general vice-rector will also be a member of the management, while the chancellor will continue to perform economic management tasks. The vice-rector in the field of health industry innovation will also be a member of the management.

As a novelty, he will also be responsible for coordinating the operation of 35 companies affiliated with the university as the director of the Corporate Coordination Centre in the top management.

Changes will be made in the system of organisational units accordingly.

Speaking about the Clinical Centre, the candidate expressed hope that a kind of innovation can be accepted in the financing system, the negotiation of which is currently ongoing. In the field of education and development, he highlighted the modernisation of existing training courses if necessary, the introduction of new methods and technologies, the attraction of new students every year, and the prioritisation of student-friendly operations and a service-provider-friendly university. In connection with scientific progress, he presented that the institution spends EUR 25 million annually for scientific purposes without tenders, and between 2025 and 2030 this amount will be EUR 150 million, but he expressed hope that the tender systems will be opened again. Internationalisation will also play a prominent role in future plans, which will be reflected in science, cooperation, education, the recruitment of foreign students, and the implementation of exchange programmes.

“Education and innovation are necessarily interconnected,” Zoltán Bács said, and in his view, innovation is equal to the efficiency and development of the future. In this spirit, the university’s innovation park, which is a unique physical environment among domestic higher education institutions, plays a huge role. He also mentioned the university’s corporate system among the successful initiatives, as well as the sports strategy launched in 2005, as a result of which the University of Debrecen achieved the Healthy Campus Platinum degree at the International University Sports Federation, which is currently held by only 38 institutions in the world. He also mentioned as a decisive result that UD recently received the title of University of the Year in the student-friendly category.

Source:dehir.hu |Photo credit:Facebook (Debrecen városa)