History of the ESC

The European Studies Centre of the University of Szeged was founded in 1998 with Phare support as part of a national network, based on the agreement between the Delegation of the European Commission to Hungary and the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.   

The Secretariat of the European Studies Centres was also founded to support the operation of the centres within the network. From January 2000 onwards the Tempus Public Foundation carried out the tasks of the Secretariat.

The aim of setting up the ESC network was that European Studies Centres should facilitate the process, as a result of which universities - as the main knowledge bases of the country - could take an active role in training experts, a task becoming more and more urgent as the EU accession was growing near. A further objective was to educate experts speaking several languages, properly informed about European Union matters, who could represent the interests of their employer, their own enterprise or the country, in an environment changed by EU accession. Yet another aim of the European Studies Centre was to operate as an intellectual workshop that ensures wider publicity for the up-to-date political, economic and social aspects of integration following the European Union accession of Hungary.

The tasks of the ESC from the beginning can therefore be summarised as follows:
- Training experts and organising further trainings for them
- Participation in research programs
- Cooperation with European Union research workshops
- Ensuring training modules concerning the European Union for students from abroad
- Organisation of events, conferences on different EU related subjects
- Establishing partnerships
- Contribution in drawing up project proposals and implementing projects

At the time of its foundation the ESC used to be a central functional unit of the University of Szeged.

The submission of the project proposal and the direction of the ESC were carried out by Dr. Sándor Csernus until January 1999. The direction of the Centre was taken over by Dr. István Monok later in 1999, then by Dr. László J. Nagy between 2000 and 2002 who was also responsible for closing the project. Dr. Ádám Anderle was the next director between 2002 and 2003, and the Centre has been directed by Dr. László Trócsányi since 2004.

Apart from conducting our training programs, organising professional conferences (at least one or two per year) and other events has been an important activity of the ESC ever since its establishment.

Alongside the continuous implementation of conferences, the ESC has been attaching great importance to making the results of these events available for the wider professional and civil public in the form of volumes of studies since 1999. In such a way, the ESC has managed the appearance of several volumes and ensured the editorial background for them.
From 2004 onwards the ESC has participated in several projects initiated by ministries and foundations, in cooperation with non-governmental organisations.

The ESC has also implemented several short-term training programs (2-5 days) in various subject matters since its foundation:

- Basics of Project Cycle Management
- Project Cycle Management
- European studies special training program
- Public procurement
- Multipliers’ training program

The European Studies Centre was transferred to the Faculty of Law early 2005. This change made it possible for us to start independent study programs.

So the international studies program operating in line with the Bologna System set off in September 2006 with the title “International studies undergraduate training program” (BSC). There were almost ten times as many applicants than the eventual number of students (80) and a high admission threshold (133 points) as early as the first year.

The master level (MA) of the same training program was launched following a successful accreditation in 2009, with a specialisation of European studies. The Latin-America and Mediterraneum master level specialisations were also successfully accredited by the European Studies Centre.

The French language European law master training program started in 2005 in cooperation with the Jean Moulin Lyon III University. The students enrolled for this program obtain a full value French Master level diploma after successfully completing their studies. The direction of the so-called French Law Program earlier managed by the Institute of Comparative Law was also taken over by the ESC in 2009. Following the reorganisation of this program it is now offered as a second French language specialisation under the title “European Civilisation and Integration” as an accredited university study program.

We offer English and French language courses in connection with the EU for students arriving from European universities in the framework of the ERASMUS program.

As a result of a successful project proposal the Europe Direct Szeged European information office was established within the ESC in the spring of 2007, with the support of the European Commission. The task of the info point is to render information and advice to the wide public in questions concerning the policies of the European Union, to transfer information from the institutions of the European Union with local and regional relevance to citizens, and to ensure the possibility of feedback from the public to the EU institutions.