The long-established University of Miskolc, previously the Technical University for Heavy Industry, expanded in the second half of the 20th century to include other branches of science and new fields firstly with the establishment of the Faculty of Law in 1983 and later in 1990, the Faculty of Economics.

Although the demand for humanities and social sciences had arisen in the region decades earlier, the number of applicants who could be admitted to universities in Hungary did not justify the establishment of a new Faculty of Arts at an institution alongside the well-known universities and teacher-training colleges.

However, there was increasing need for people qualified in the humanities and social sciences in the region, which struggled with a lack of professionals in education, cultural institutions and public libraries and archives. A rise in research activity in social sciences increasingly demanded the active presence of new, educated, well-prepared researchers with an academic background.

Both predecessors of the Faculty of Arts, the still active non-accredited Association of Arts in Miskolc and the Faculty’s direct predecessor the Institute of Arts of the University of Miskolc, were established to satisfy this demand.

The latter was accredited and began operations in the 1992/93 academic year, promoting the ambition of the University to broaden its range of disciplines.

In the first academic year tuition started with two classes with students from the Association of Arts in Miskolc. The institute format proved to be too limiting already at the start, so the institute management applied to promote it to a faculty status as soon as possible. In 1997 the application was successful, and the Faculty became a fully-fledged member of the university.

Although teaching and researching Arts and Social Sciences has only a 15-year-long history at the university, our achievements speak for themselves. The few initial university- and two college-level courses have been expanded since the introduction of the Bologna system. The Faculty now has 3 further education and training programmes, 9 BA courses, 17 MA courses, several postgraduate training courses, and students wishing to continue their studies at an even higher level can obtain a PhD at our doctoral school.

For years national surveys have shown that we are on the right track. We are among the best regarding both the educators’ level of qualification and student satisfaction. Of the approximately thirty institutions which offer Arts courses only a few long-established universities (ELTE, University of Debrecen, University of Szeged) rank higher than the Faculty of Arts at the University of Miskolc. This is further proven by the fact that nearly 90% of the students participating in an anonymous survey said that they would choose the Faculty of Arts at the University of Miskolc again, even if they had a chance to go to another university.

It also imposes responsibility on the Faculty’s management and lecturers. It is only the high quality of education and research, the increasing integration of students into academic life, and the informal atmosphere of mutual respect that can inspire our students to spread the good reputation of our Faculty in- and outside the country. With their Arts degrees in their hands, good communication skills and reliable foreign language competence, our students can earn a good living, get good jobs and – more importantly – work in fields which they are interested in.

The Faculty of Arts at the University of Miskolc provides up-to-date, applicable knowledge for the people of the 21st century. The ever-widening range of courses include all the disciplines belonging to Arts and Social Sciences in the classical sense, as well as practice-oriented, practicable knowledge, which is an invaluable asset in today’s accelerated world.

VIVA ARTS!