Director's Greeting

Dear Visitors, Dear Guests,

On behalf of the Directorate of Szent István Campus of the Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences (MATE), let us welcome you warmly on our campus. 

MATE Szent István Campus is the largest higher education unit in Hungary in the fields of agriculture, environmental science, rural development, agricultural economics, and technology. Agricultural education in Gödöllő dates back almost 70 years: the Faculties of Agronomy, Animal Husbandry, Agricultural Economics and Mechanization of the Hungarian University of Agricultural Sciences moved to Gödöllő in several steps from 1950, then in 1957 they merged as the Gödöllő University of Agricultural Sciences. Szent István Campus of MATE - established on 1st February 2021 is a worthy successor of this previous union - which is the largest of the 5 campuses of the new university in terms of number of students and employees as well. Management is based in Gödöllő, but the Szarvas Training Centre also works under its administration.

The mission of Szent István Campus is to contribute to the development of a new type of Hungary with a prosperous agriculture, based on the sustainable utilization of natural resources, developing in all economic and scientific fields, through its training programs, research results and expert advising work.

Our work preserves the values of environment made by nature and man while producing healthy and safe food, and creating the technical, economic and social conditions for it: wildlife - including species that can be hunted, fished and are protected -, drinking water, soil, air, landscape, that is, the agroecological systems that man has developed during agricultural production, and represent not only utilization but also natural values. Our mission is to contribute to the creation and preservation of a liveable environment in the future, taking into account the aspects of agri-environmental management, rural and regional development, nature conservation, wildlife management, as well as technical and social expectations. Making all this without neglecting the tasks of improving the quality of life, increasing competitiveness, generating food and income.

In the field of agricultural training, we are waiting our future students with the widest range of programmes, at all levels of university training (Bachelor’s and Master's, English, and Hungarian language programmes, specialized courses, and PhD programmes). Our students are educated by scientifically qualified professors and researchers. As part of our research programs, our students can work with our academics and PhDs on joint projects, later publications. We contract with our students for training environmentally conscious, open-minded, and foreign language speaking agricultural intellectuals who produce new values.

The expectations are serious, and we can only meet them if everyone works every day to grow our campus in terms of knowledge, experience, and results. Out of the 20 institutes established within the university, 10 institutes have their headquarters on the campus, another 4 institutes have departments on the campus, that gives permanent tasks to those working and studying here in the fields of education, R&D, innovation, and consulting.

The future will bring huge changes to our university in both infrastructure and educational research. The design and construction work of the new campus building will start soon, and in the short term - within 5 years - our students and colleagues can study and work in a modern building that meets the needs of today and hopefully the future as well. In parallel with this renewal, curriculum reform has begun, with up-to-date content and teaching techniques that will be introduced in the academic year beginning in September 2021.

We believe that the basis of quality agricultural education is cooperation, so Everyone who wants to do and act for this can contribute to the development of our university and our campus. To do this, we ask for your help and contribution, and we invite you to see and experience our development with your own eyes. Visit us, get to know our research, apply for our programmes so that we can build the future together!