On Monday 16 September, the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava opened the new academic year 2024/2025 in the Acting Hall of Academician Bella. The ceremony was attended by Tomáš Drucker, the Minister of Education, Research, Development and Youth. The awarding of "Doctor honoris causa" degrees to Levente Adalbert Kovács the Rector of the Óbuda University in Budapest, and Professor Zenon Jan Pudlowski, as well as the matriculation of first-year students of the STU Faculty of Civil Engineering were parts of the event, the exceptionality of which was highlighted by the subsequent ceremonial opening of the new STU University Centre.
“Organizing the ceremony in the renovated Acting Hall of the STU Faculty of Civil Engineering was an intention with symbolic meaning,” said Oliver Moravčík the STU Rector.
"STU belongs to the oldest universities in Slovakia, it has educated almost 200,000 graduates who have significantly contributed to transformation of an underdeveloped agrarian country into one of the most industrial ones in the region. However, in the current increasingly tough competition, we cannot live on history. In recent years, we therefore did our best to make STU a progressive, high-quality and competitive university in the European context," emphasized the Rector, pointing to the investments that, thanks to the ACCORD project, has helped STU to modernize buildings and laboratories including this Acting Hall where the new academic year was opened.
It is, however, mainly high-quality people and the chances for their growth, what makes a successful university, emphasised the Rector.
"Very promising and challenging is the STU membership in the EULiST, Alliance of European universities, which opens up a wide range of internships and mobility for our teachers and students," added the Rector.
The Rector also named the challenges the STU faces in the new academic year. He highlighted the increased activity in international cooperation and projects, improvement of cooperation and communication within the University.
"Let's keep in mind that the STU brand represents a solid value and we are all stronger under its umbrella. It is true today and it will be also true under the new leadership od STU," concluded Rector Moravčík.
The full Rector’s address is available below.
Part of the academic ceremony was also matriculation of the first-year students of the STU Faculty of Civil Engineering. Stanislav Unčík, its Dean reminded the students that they were enrolling in the oldest technical faculty in Slovakia, whose history began in 1937 after the establishment of the Technical University of Dr. Milan Rastislav Štefánik in Košice.
"As the only in Slovakia, the Faculty provides education in all areas of construction, water management, landscape design, geodesy, and applied mathematics within all three degrees of study: nine Bachelor study programmes, eleven Master programmes and eight Doctoral programmes. The programmes have been successfully evaluated in the accreditation according to the new standards of the Accreditation Agency. The accreditation results guarantee the high-quality education with a long-term prospect," said the Dean.
During the ceremony, Professors Levente Adalbert Kovács and Zenon Jan Pudlowski were granted the honorary degree of "Doctor honoris causa" from the hands of Rector Moravčík.
Professor Levente Adalbert Kovács from the Óbuda University in Budapest received it for his significant scientific contribution in the field of modern theory of robust control, physiological modelling and control, cybernetic medical systems and related sciences and for his cooperation with the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, especially for his support in creating conditions for the professional growth of STU teachers, scientists and students and also for his personal and human qualities. The university teaching and research career of Professor Kovács began in 2000 at the University of Timişoara. Later, he worked for several universities in Hungary. In 2012 he joined the Óbuda University in Budapest, where he received the position of full professor at the Institute of Biomedical Informatics and Applied Artificial Intelligence Faculty of Informatics in 2016. In 2018–2019, he held the position of vice-rector for education, and since 2019 he has been the rector/president of the University. He is a member of the Board of the Interdisciplinary Doctoral School of Applied Informatics and Applied Mathematics and a member of the Habilitation and Doctoral Committee at the Obuda University in Budapest. The areas of Professor Kovács' research activities comprise modern robust control theory, physiological modelling, and control and management of cyber-medical systems. During his career, he has received numerous international honours and awards. He was elected as a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a member and Vice-President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences.
Professor Zenon Jan Pudlowski is a recognized scientific personality who has significantly contributed to spreading the goodwill of STU and Slovakia in the world. He is a member of the World Innovation Foundation (WIF) in Great Britain and the editorial board of the Journal of Engineering Education (IJEE). As the founder of the Australian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE), he was also its first Vice-President and Executive Director. He founded the Australian Journal of Engineering Education (AJEE) and was its Editor-in-Chief from its inception in 1989 until 1997. He is currently the Director of the World Institute of Engineering and Technology Education (WIETE) based in Melbourne, Australia. Professor Pudlowski has been cooperating with STU Faculty of Architecture and Design (FAD) for 25 years and helped the Faculty to fasten cooperation with the World Institute for Technical and Technological Education (WIETE) based in Melbourne, which enabled the participation of the STU FAD representatives in many international conferences and yielded dozens of indexed publications and hundreds of citations. In recent years, Professor Pudlowski collaborated with the STU FAD educators in organizing several international EADE conferences (Conference on Engineering and Architecture Design Education), most recently in June 2024 in Bratislava. Professor Pudlowski currently works for STU FAD as a visiting professor.
Rector’s address on the occasion of the opening of the academic year 2024/2025:
Dear Magnificence, Honorabilities, Spectabilities, colleagues, dear students, dear guests,
The Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava is entering the new academic year 2024/2025. In a different way and in a different place than the custom has been so far. It is not a coincidence, but an intention with a symbolic subtext.
Today's festive event actually comprises three celebrations in one, plus an extra bonus, combining the opening of the academic year, the matriculation of our first-year students and the awarding of honorary degrees to two of our precious colleagues from abroad.
Besides, this festive event takes place at the premises of the STU oldest and largest Faculty of Civil Engineering, in its completely refurbished Acting Hall, which is No. 1 of the above-mentioned symbols. STU belongs to the oldest universities in Slovakia, it has educated almost 200,000 graduates who significantly contributed to transformation of an underdeveloped agrarian country into one of the most industrial ones in the region. However, in the current increasingly tough competition, we cannot live on history. In recent years, we therefore do our best to make STU a progressive, high-quality and competitive university in the European context.
Several months ago, STU and the Comenius University in Bratislava successfully completed ACCORD, the largest academic investment project in Slovak history, in the amount of more than € 120 million. We used the allotted funds to modernize buildings and laboratories, including this Acting Hall. The joint project of STU and the University of Economics in Bratislava recently received € 50 million from the Recovery and Resilience Plan as the best one, and will bring about further improvement in the conditions for work and study.
It is, however, mainly high-quality people and the chances for their growth, what makes a successful university. Very promising and challenging is the STU membership in the EULiST Alliance of European universities, which opens up a wide range of internships and mobility for our teachers and students. A living proof of our international collaboration are two representatives of partnering universities, who will be today granted honorary doctorates from STU. Do you know, our dear freshmen, that during the three degrees of study at the Slovak University of Technology, you can stay and study abroad for up to three years?
A significant progress for STU is also the recent acquisition of accreditation according to new standards. We won it thanks to the successful implementation of the Internal Quality System, which enables flexible modification of the existing study programmes and design of new ones in cooperation with our partners in the aforementioned Alliance. We can thus flexibly respond to the development in science, technology and the current labour market, where our graduates are in great demand.
In the new academic year, we are facing several challenges, too. We can rise in the quality rankings - whether symbolic or real – only through intensive activity in international cooperation and projects. There are several positive examples of our success in this field; yet it requires closer cooperation, based on communication within the University. The existing imperfections may be eliminated. The famous saying "where there's a will, there's a way" also applies to STU. Let's keep in mind that the STU brand is a solid value and we are all stronger under its umbrella. It is true today and it will be true for the University under the new leadership.
I am very happy that this academic event will be immediately followed by another one. The bonus I hinted at in the beginning: we will cut the ribbon on the brand-new STU University Centre. It stands symbolically in the centre of Bratislava, the Capital, in close proximity to two important national institutions, in the place where four STU faculties are located. It should also bring STU closer to the public and to each other.
Vivat, crescat et floreat academia, Slovenská technická univerzita v Bratislave.
