Hungarian University Research Articles

The Greenest Hungarian University for the Greenest Hungarian City – the University of Pécs in the light of sustainability

Five years ago, the University of Pécs (UP) stated in its Green University Program mission, that every useful practice, innovation, management in the environment tend to help sustainability and sustainable administration has to be encouraged, with the aid of education and science aiming to strengthen ecological consciousness.In 2020 the University of Pécs participated for the fifth time in the international “UI GreenMetric World University Rankings”. Thanks to its conscious, disciplined environmental ambitions and related efforts, UP has been able to move forward year after year in ever-expanding rankings. 2020 UP made it to the 59th place worldwide and reaching the 1st place in Hungary, earning the Greenest Hungarian University title. The university started to build a network both on the national and international level. The University of Pécs, together with the University of Szeged, plays the role of national coordinator in the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings Network.The Green University Program is playing a more and more important role in the university life and helps to further develop the visibility of the UP brand both nationally and internationally contexts. Complex sustainability efforts provide an opportunity to address responses to challenges holistically. UP is involved in a harmonic and sustainable relationship with the environment, balancing the university and environmental interests. Besides the traditional roles of teaching and research UP is focusing on its third mission together with its stakeholders.UP as a green university is a catalyst of innovation aiming at reaching sustainable development goals. “Green thinking” is present in all aspects of life, so it is important to exploit the synergies that reinforce and shape the thinking of individuals to make “green acting” part of their everyday lives. The existence and life quality of future generations largely depend on our success in transforming our views on the world, environment, and attitude towards life. Are we ready to change our habits and save the environmental resources, to protect our environment and maintain biodiversity, to live in a sustainable way? The University of Pécs is a leader in Hungary in this mission. Due to its collaborative work together with its partners Pécs won the Greenest City of Hungary title in 2020. Keyword: sustainability, eco awareness, partnering, innovation, green university, responsibility, third mission, University of Pécs (Hungary)

Comparative experiment of various irrigation technologies in maize (Zea mays L.)

Development of domestic maize cultivation largely depends on the applied agrotechnics. In keeping the increase in crop increases, the goal is to minimize crop fluctuations, and there is also an important role in the proper water supply. In our country, the yield of maize is a good water supply. The yield of maize can be significantly increased by improving the water supply of the plant. In many areas there are only very few water available for professional irrigation, so it is increasingly need to focus on modern, most water-saving irrigation technologies. In our experiment, we compare two irrigation techniques. The rain-like watering with console and the solenoid valve-controlled tape drip irrigation. Our examinations extend to mapping the properties of maize that can cause changes in the effect of irrigation and, of course, to develop crop quantities available by various irrigation technologies, since these results provide the proper income for the producer. The research was carried in Szarvas, at the school experimental field of the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Department of Irrigation and Melioration, in 2020.

Effect of cereal-legume intercrops on the soil enzymatic activity

Sowing and harvesting cereals with legumes is an old crop production practice. The main goal of cultivation is to make the best use of the area and to increase the quality and yield of the crops. The intercropping of cereals and legumes can stimulate the biological activity of the soil, thus increasing the recycling of soil organic matter. Competition between two or more plants has a positive effect on the nitrogen fixation of legumes. In organic form the soil enzyme activity increasing is more effective which is provided by the winter pea (Pisum sativum L.) in this crop production system. We set up our experiment at the experimental sites of the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Plant Production and Agrotechnical Research Station, Szeged-Öthalom and Fülöpszállás in 2020/2021. The experiments were performed on 10 m2 plots, in four replicates, with four cereals and one winter pea species, in different phenological phases. We were used fluorescein diacetate to determine the total microbial activity of the soil. As the phenophases progress, the enzymatic activity of the soil decreases, and activity is affected by soil type. The soil enzyme activity was lower on meadow chernozem soil and higher on calcareous meadow soil. Cereal-legume intercrop systems are better able to adapt to drought. The values are higher in cereal-legume intercropping system than in cereals sowed alone. Based on our results, it can be concluded that the enzymatic activity of the soil can be increased by using soil inoculation with bacteria and mycorrhiza fungi preparations.

Online higher education during the pandemic: The case of Hungary

The coronavirus pandemic has profoundly affected Hungarian higher education (HEI). As campuses around the globe were forced to shut down, online distance learning became an everyday reality for all students. At the same time, faculty were rushed to adjust their teaching content and methods, as well as forms of assessment, to online teaching. As a result, this transition exposed flaws in technological abilities, digital preparedness and flexibilities within universities. In this work, my goal is to analyze how the Hungarian HEIs adopted online educational practices during the pandemic and how they were able to address some of the difficulties while adjusting their teaching and creating new forms of support for both students and faculty. To that end, the article first discusses the prevalence of distance and digital learning before the pandemic, then evaluates the steps and challenges of transition to remote online education during the pandemic, and finally highlights some lessons learnt and best practices of some Hungarian universities.

The Effect of Mulching on the Biological and Physical Properties of Soil in Maize

To study the effect of different mulching levels on the physical and biological properties of the soil. A field experiment was conducted in Gödöllő Szárítópuszta of the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences experimental farm (Pest county). The experiment was laid down in a random block design with five treatments, namely M0%= control, M25%= 25%, M50%= 50%, M75%= 75%, and M100%= 100% level of mulch cover. Soil moisture content (SMC), soil penetration resistance (SPR) and earthworm abundance were measured. SMC, SPR and earthworm abundance were taken at 15-day intervals unless the weather prevented sampling. The experiment was set up from May 2019 until September 2019. The statistical data was carried out using one-way variance analysis with Tukey HSD (Honestly Significant Difference) multiple comparisons post hoc tests. The significance level used in the statistical studies was 5%. Mulch treatments improved water significantly in the first two months (June and July) of crop growth at 10 and 20 cm, however, moisture was not conserved for too long. Mulch treatment did not affect penetration resistance in all treatments. SPR was high after July in all the treatments due to low SMC. The measured SPR reached 5.3 MPa in August in M25%. The highest earthworm abundance was measured at M100% in August while the lowest was measured in control treatments. The grain yield was highest at M50% (1704 kg/ha) compared to the control. Mulch treatments were assessed based on factors such as soil moisture content, biological activity and penetration resistance and mulch was partially found to be advantageous.

Eliciting University Students’ Attitudes towards Farmers’ Markets: The Hungarian Case

Short food supply chains are increasingly investigated areas of international studies. One of its defining sales channels is the farmers’ market, the number of which has grown substantially in Hungary in recent years. Many studies analyze the consumers of farmers’ markets worldwide, but only a few examine the relationship of university students with farmers’ markets. Although university students are not typical customers of farmers’ markets, it is essential to investigate their habits since they are the consumers of the future. Based on a questionnaire survey among Hungarian university students (n = 262), the price, convenience, selection, and quality aspects of the products dominate. We also identified clusters based on food purchasing criteria: (1) price-sensitive consumers, (2) health-conscious consumers, and (3) brand-loyal consumers. The main obstacle for non-regular buyers is the distance from farmers’ markets, which can be solved by organizing farmers’ markets on university campuses. 95% of the sample is open to this, so it would be worthwhile to conduct independent research for each university and put the positive results into practice.

Employing the flipped classroom to raise the global citizenship competences of economics students to a global issue

The UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals determine the global development objectives for the period of 2016–2030. Universities play an exceptional role in raising global citizens. Due to changes in the attitudes of young people, concepts such as student-centered education, collaborative and active learning, and flipped classrooms have become key terms in education. In this paper, we combine these two areas (educational methods and global citizenship education), and aim to assess how flipped classrooms in university education can contribute to improving global citizenship competences of young people on the issues of developing countries. A pilot research project was conducted at a Hungarian university with the involvement of 44 bachelor's-degree students. The project was based on the flipped classroom method with input and output tests, and it concentrated on the dimension of global competencies in global citizenship. The results confirmed that the level of global competencies can be improved by a university course, though the final results were not as strong as expected.

Comparison of Length of Hospital Stay for Community-Acquired Infections Due to Enteric Pathogens, Influenza Viruses and Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria: A Cross-Sectional Study in Hungary.

Community-acquired infections (CAI) can affect the duration of care and mortality of patients. Therefore, we aimed to investigate these as well as factors influencing the length of hospital stay in patients with CAI due to enteric pathogens, influenza viruses and multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. We obtained data on 531 patients with CAI from the medical databases of a Hungarian university hospital and analyzed their characteristics using a regression model. Patients with MDR bacterial infection had the highest mortality (26.24%) and they stayed significantly longer in the hospital than cases with other CAIs. Our results showed that infection by Clostridioides difficile (odds ratio (OR): 6.98, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.03-47.48; p = 0.047), MDR Escherichia coli (OR: 7.64, 95% CI: 1.24-47.17; p = 0.029), MDR Klebsiella spp. (OR: 7.35, 95% CI: 1.15-47.07; p = 0.035) and hospitalization in the department of pulmonology (OR: 5.48, 95% CI: 1.38-21.76; p = 0.016) and surgery (OR: 4.19, 95% CI: 1.18-14.81; p = 0.026) significantly increased, whereas female sex (OR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.40-0.97; p = 0.037) and hospitalization in the department of pediatrics (OR: 0.17, 95% CI: 0.04-0.64; p = 0.009) decreased the odds of staying in the hospital for more than 6 days. Our findings provide new information on the epidemiology of CAI and can contribute to the development of public health programs that decrease the burden of infections acquired in the community.

An Educational Corpus Based Exploration of Contemporary Hungarian Cinema: Lessons of the 2021 Hungarian University Film Awards

This paper explores the origins, pedagogical aims and framework of the Hungarian University Film Award (HUFA) incorporating the personal experience of its author who participated in the coordination of various stages of the initiative. It claims that the initiative created a unique learning environment—an educational corpus comprising of six films from 2019 competing for the awards—and describes the methods and conceptual angles used in class discussions. The first part of the article outlines the interpretive framework offered for students to better grasp the general aesthetic and generic patterns at work in the corpus, including the emergence of a medium concept film in Hungarian film culture. The second part introduces another framework that helped students to contextualize the corpus by organizing films into two groups based on festival appearances and international visibility. The final part of the paper focuses on interpretations proposed by students, the ways they used the analytical methods of integration and differentiation while addressing the HUFA-corpus. This includes reconstructing key arguments as to how in-class debates mapped up, compared, and criticised the manifold strategies films employ to raise awareness towards traumatic experience. The pedagogical benefits of the initiative were most apparent in this stage, where students were expected to consider both individual films and an overarching trauma-discourse.

10 Years of Hungarian National Security Higher Education (2012–2022)

This study examines the place and role of Hungarian national security higher education coordinated by the Institute of National Security of the University of Public Service. Compared to the models seen on the international stage, the study describes the Hungarian university (UPS) form of national security training, the peculiarities that have developed as a result of the last ten years, and the framework of higher education in this special field.

“A very special song from Queen to you!” The role of music in destination promotional videos

PurposeThis study aims to contribute to the discussion on the interplay between music and destination advertising by exploring the roles of music in destination promotional videos (DPVs).Design/methodology/approachEight focus group discussions on DPVs about Budapest (Hungary) were assessed through thematic analysis. Individuals’ interactions with and perceptions of advertising can be explored in depth through the former, whereas the latter allowed to identify the roles of music in DPVs.FindingsResults show that music plays a very important role in DPVs in which it acts as a conveyor. Viewers associate a DPV’s musical elements and genre with a destination’s character. Here, the use and remix of traditional music was felt to be controversial because of its ability to communicate cultural identity. The music caught the audience’s attention, elicited emotions in them and made them think about the destination in question. An original music track can make a video memorable.Research limitations/implicationsA convenience sample was used with international and Hungarian university students for the focus groups.Practical implicationsMusic is a powerful conveyor of the particular characteristics of a destination and if the structural elements of music, such as tempo, rhythm and dynamics, are chosen appropriately, tourism marketers can create compelling promotional videos. By recognising that different audiences are attracted by different genres of music, marketers can target specific tourist segments. Furthermore, tourism marketers are advised to ask locals’ opinions about which music best represents their city’s cultural identity.Originality/valueThrough an understanding of the important role of music in DPVs, this study provides a novel insight into assessing young people’s cognitive and affective responses to music in promotional videos.

Subject Area Risk Assessment of Four Hungarian Universities with a View to the QS University Rankings by Subject

Abstract Purpose The aim of our paper is to investigate the role of a mentor leading a research team in the overall scientific performance of an academic institution and the possible risks of their departure with a special attention to their publication output. Design/methodology/approach By using SciVal subject area data, we composed a formula describing the level of vulnerability of any given university in the case of losing any of its leading mentors, identifying other risk factors by dividing their careers into separate stages. Findings It turns out that the higher field-weighed citation impact is, the better position universities reach in the rankings by subject and the vulnerability of institutions highly depends on the mentors, especially in view of their contribution to the topic clusters. Research limitations The analysis covers the publication output of leading researchers working at four Hungarian universities, the scope of the analysis is worth being extended. Practical implications Our analysis has the potential to give an applicable systemic approach as well as a data collection scheme to university managements so as to formulate an inclusive and comprehensive research strategy involving the introduction of a reward system aimed at publications and further encouraging national and international research cooperation. Originality/value The methodology and the principles of risk assessment laid down in our paper are not restricted to measuring the vulnerability level of a limited group of academic institutions, they can be appropriately used for investigating the role of mentors or leading researchers at every university across the globe.

The Relationship between Perceived Organizational Support and the Intentions of International Students in Hungary to Stay in Hungary: The Role of Conflict Climate and Intercultural Adjustment

In recent years, Hungary has seen a dramatic increase in the number of international students, particularly since the government launched a scholarship program to encourage more talented overseas students to study at Hungarian universities. The mobilities of these students have notably increased their participation in part-time jobs or internships in the host country. These work experiences could broaden the perspectives of international students regarding the organizational operation modes in the host country’s firms; moreover, they may impact their ability to interculturally adjust to the host country’s culture, clarifying their intentions to stay or not. This article attempts to find out how perceived organizational support (POS) affects international students’ plans to stay and work abroad (IS), as well as what roles conflict management climate (CMC) and intercultural adjustment (IA) play in this relationship. A linear snowball sampling method was used to collect the data. The study’s sample was taken from international students in Hungary with part-time jobs or internships. A self-administrated questionnaire was distributed to the participants through online channels. The PLS-SEM method was used to empirically test the proposed hypothesis. Later, a total of 433 valid answers were used for the analysis. The results reveal that POS positively and significantly affects CMC and IA but has no significant effect on IS. Moreover, IA is the only factor that has a direct impact on IS and it shows a significant mediating impact on the relationship between POS and IS. The findings contribute to the success of Hungarian organizations in retaining talented young (or soon-to-graduate) employees in their companies by encouraging their intentions to stay in the country.

Study Report of Insect Damage on Field Chili Pepper Fruits

Modern Concepts & Developments in Agronomy Study Report of Insect Damage on Field Chili Pepper Fruits András Lajos Juhász and Ágnes Szénási* Department of Integrated Plant Protection, Plant Protection Institute, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary *Corresponding author: Ágnes Szénási, Department of Integrated Plant Protection, Plant Protection Institute, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungarym Submission: September 27, 2022;Published: October 20, 2022 DOI: 10.31031/MCDA.2022.11.000773 ISSN 2637-7659Volume11 Issue 5

How has university students’ drug use changed during Covid-19?

The Covid-19 outbreak and the lockdown have had significant psychological and social impactson everyone’s life. Changing life circumstances and daily routines, job losses, uncertainty, haveput a psychological strain on us. As a consequence, we may experience risk behaviours moreoften than before. The aim of the study is to analyse how risk behaviours have changed due toCovid-19 among university students in Hungary, and to identify the psycho-social factors along which the shift can be explained. The analysis is based on the data of ‘Covid-19 InternationalStudent Well-Being Study’ – a study initiated and coordinated by the University of Antwerpeninvolving 75 universities from 26 countries. Four Hungarian universities – Corvinus Universityof Budapest, the University of Debrecen, the University of Miskolc, and the University of Szegedparticipated in the study. The survey was conducted among all university students who filledin an online questtioannaire in Spring 2020. Our results show that all risk behavoiurs havedeclined during the Covid-19 period. However, students who had had consumed drug beforeCovid-19 have been using them more frequently during the pandemic. Our results suggest thatthe recreational use have probably declined and the problematic use have probably increasedamong university students during the pandemic. Our results highlight the fact that students forwhom the crisis situation imposed by the quarantine was hard to handle are more likely to usesubstances more frequently, so offering them prevention and treatment options is crucial.

Environmentalism of university students in relation to their materialism, life satisfaction, views on politics and pandemic

Recently, an increasing focus has been made on studying environmental problems and therelated social phenomena. Understanding the environmentalism and its influencing factorsin the case of higher education students can greatly help the preparation and identificationof sustainability policies and educational practices in higher education institutions. In this study, we investigated environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behavior ofstudents at 17 Hungarian universities as a function of a number of hypothesized influencingfactors. These included materialistic values, life satisfaction, political views, and views on theCovid-19 pandemic. According to our results, these were all related to environmentalism. Moreenvironmentally conscious students were less materialistic, less right-wing in their politicalviews, more satisfied with their lives, and also differed in their views on pandemic issues. Besidea weaker impact of environmentalism and political views, life satisfaction was largely influencedby the relative financial situation perceived by respondents.

Transfer of Mental Health Services for Medical Students to Cyberspace during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Service Use and Students' Preferences for Psychological Self-Help Techniques.

The high risk of mental health problems among medical students has been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly reduced social contact. The mental health support service of the medical school of one Hungarian university was transferred to the online learning management system and was expanded by self-help materials in three domains: Improving study skills, stress management techniques, and reducing stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic. We wanted to understand the preferences of medical students for psychological self-help techniques by investigating the pattern of access to online self-help materials and the characteristics of the users. Access to the online materials between April 2020 and April 2021 among Hungarian and international medical students was analyzed using the logging data of the system. Of all the students who logged in during the examination period (n = 458), 36.6–40.4% viewed materials to improve study skills and 23–29% viewed stress management materials, of which short-duration audio format techniques were preferred. The access rate of content targeting coping with the mental health effects of COVID-19 was 9.5–24%. Support to improve study skills is significantly more preferred than interventions targeting distress-reduction. The pattern of access can be used for the development of interventions that are of most interest to medical students.

Challenges of promoting open science within the NI4OS-Europe project in Hungary

National Initiatives for Open Science in Europe (NI4OS-Europe) is a Horizon 2020 project, one of whose objectives is to promote the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and open science in 15 Central and East European EU states and EU associated countries.
 This paper describes the variety of NI4OS-Europe promoting activities carried out in Hungary by the Governmental Agency for IT Development (KIFÜ). All these activities aim at different, and sometimes overlapping groups and involve: 
 ▸ publishing researcher interviews on research data management and open science practices for early career researchers;▸ open science news feed for open science practitioners;▸ publishing an e-learning course on EOSC and open science for graduate and PhD students;▸ testing research data management (RDM) tools for the Hungarian research community;▸ organising various events, including the Hungarian Open Science Forum targeting senior researchers and stakeholders;▸ an EOSC Champion programme at three major Hungarian universities. 
 Identifying good practices will give us the chance to find the best communication channels andmethods to promote open science and to manage expectations of funders, researchers, and librarians. 
 We will analyse audience diversity at six NI4OS events organised as part of the project. The anonymized dataset based on registration forms will be filtered by affiliation and profession. We will attempt to identify the main event features that mostly attract librarians or researchers. We will test the hypothesis that open science is generally more welcomed by research institutions’ librarians than, researchers, whose interests are more attached to funds and applications.
 We will also study usage data of open science news feeds. Having around 200 posts and 5000 visitors from May 2021 to April 2022 gives us the chance to learn more about the characteristics of the most visited, event-related posts, followed by posts related to national policies, which are visited more frequently than international ones.
 The paper will also argue that bottom-up and top-down approaches of promoting EOSC need to be used in a delicate balance to reach out to the widest audience possible.

Higher-proficiency students’ engagement with and uptake of teacher and Grammarly feedback in an EFL writing course

ABSTRACT Research on the impact of feedback on students’ writing has grown in the past 20 years, including studies comparing the nature of teacher and automated feedback. Differential success in learners’ gaining from feedback has largely depended on their engagement with the feedback rather than the feedback itself. Studies examining the ways learners engage with different sources of feedback are relatively scarce. This study addresses this gap: it examines Hungarian university students’ behavioral engagement with teacher and automated feedback and their feedback uptake over a 14-week semester in an EFL writing course. Drawing on student texts and feedback from teacher and Grammarly, we identified the focus of feedback and analyzed the students’ revision operations in their revised texts. The results showed differences in feedback focus (the teacher provided form-and meaning-focused feedback) with unexpected outcomes: students’ uptake of feedback resulted in moderate to low levels of engagement with teacher and Grammarly feedback. Participants incorporated more form-focused feedback than meaning-focused feedback into their revisions. These findings contribute to our understanding of students’ engagement with writing tasks, levels of trust, and possible impact of students’ language proficiency on their engagement with feedback. The pedagogical implications from this study are discussed.

Modelling the Collapsing University


 
 
 Although university’s contribution to the democratic society has been studied adequately, the establishment of its internal democratic institutions has not. Issues of autonomy and accountability exist whereas, today’s Postmodernism introduces further uncertainty. After constructing a framework for measuring democracy within a university using democracy indicators selected from international organizations, we attempt to interrelate these indicators to its democratic characteristics, raising the question: “To what extent could these characteristics be eroded before the university collapses?” Interviews with European academics were conducted and the influence of forces external to the university were studied using the Central European University in Hungary as a case study. The findings show that increased state control undermines institutional autonomy and so does imposing unnecessary restrictions. Protecting democracy and academic freedom, civil rights, and supporting an open society are of paramount importance, otherwise the university collapses. A model that captures such catastrophic state changes is finally proposed.