Bonn – Next to the Nobel Laureate Memorial Wall

My eldest grandson, Dénes Buzafalvi, is a sophomore in biology at the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Science.

quality education

I asked about the life of an English student: why he chose to study in the United Kingdom, and what he chose for the University of Cambridge, founded in 1209 and known in the cinema. to reply:

Several factors influenced this. Firstly, the quality of education at the university attracted me. Here I can learn biology from professionals and educators who are at the forefront of their field in a well-equipped laboratory environment. I also liked the course model, because here all the natural sciences can be freely chosen from among our subjects in the first two years, from ecology to biochemistry to materials science. In addition, the fact that there was a large Hungarian community abroad, of which I knew many members before my admission, also played a role.

How does the second oldest university in the English-speaking world and the third in the world work, which, as an institution of higher learning, constantly brings out well-equipped students from the “student factory”? How different is this patented university from other European and Hungarian universities? – I asked.

thick thirds

“If we look at the basics, every university is pretty much the same, which is perhaps not surprising. There are also undergraduate, masters and doctoral courses, so perhaps the obvious difference compared to the Hungarian course is that the master’s degree is only one year long here. I am a natural sciences student, if I stayed here for my master’s degree, I will graduate in 2024. The most interesting thing is that the year here is divided into thirds, and each third is only 8 weeks. This means that the academic year in the strict sense of the word does not cover half the year. However, we get Plenty of such short periods.The three semesters are dense, which is a challenge to be achieved.Another important difference is the college system, which in England has existed only on a traditional basis.The point is that the university has largely only central educational and administrative functions, which Institutions of a few hundred people are built upon them, colleges The colleges themselves operate somewhat like smaller universities, with their own buildings, faculty and students Part of the teaching takes place at the college level and students are primarily associated with their colleges They eat there, live there and go Wen to the library there. In Cambridge, there are 31 such colleges attached to the university, I go to St John, which is one of the largest.

Dénes shared the following about student life in Cambridge: – Despite the fact that Cambridge is not one of the largest – its population is similar to that of Gyor – there are plenty of opportunities here. As the university makes up a large part of the city and tourism is vibrant, there are plenty of restaurants, bars, cinemas, theaters and other social venues or events. In addition, college sports are important, and the most popular sports are football, rugby and rowing, but dozens of other sports also have clubs, both at the university and college level. Liked the paddling the best, I’m still active in it, even if it’s not up to the competition. Sports fights against a major competitor, Oxford, tend to be particularly big attractions.

Student placement varies from year to year, but colleges generally guarantee accommodation for all students within the institution. These are specifically high-quality rooms and do not need to be shared with anyone. Fortunately, the university also offers scholarships to cover life there.

One hundred Hungarian students

Dénes could still study here according to the rules before Brexit, when the tuition fee was only £9000 and £250 and it was possible to get a loan with a very favorable construction. Since then, new Hungarian students have had to pay international tuition fees – at least £23,000 a year, which prevents many from getting out.

– Currently, about a hundred Hungarian students study here, and a good society has developed. “Unfortunately, because of these measures, this will decrease drastically in the coming years,” Dennis added.

In memory of celebrities

He studied and worked for many world famous people later on at Cambridge University. The institution celebrates them. Denis mentioned that the lecture hall of the Institute of Biochemistry is close by: the memorial wall of the Nobel laureates who worked there, which also contains the name of Albert Szent-Gyorgi, who conducted research there for a short time.

(on the cover: Dénes Buzafalvi in ​​college)