In 1949, Act XXIII of the Hungarian Parliament decreed: “for the advancement of higher educational technical training, a technical university for heavy industry is to be established in Miskolc. The university will contain faculties of mining, metallurgical and mechanical engineering.”The new technical university in the heart of the industrial zone of Borsod county has a 266-year-old history. In 1735, the Court Chamber of Vienna founded a school of mining and metallurgy in order to train specialists according to the requirements of the industrial revolution, and to upgrade precious metal and copper mining in Hungary. This school of mining and metallurgy, the predecessor of the Faculties of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, which operated in Selmecbánya until 1919, then in Sopron until 1949, was the first HEI set up by the state in the territory of the Hapsburg Empire, and, at the same time, the first HEI in the field of technology in the world. In 1949 the two faculties moved to Miskolc and were complemented by the newly established Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Since that time new faculties have emerged, making the university a real universitas which embraces a wide-range of sciences and specialisations. As a result of the integration of HEIs, Comenius Teacher Training College (faculty status) in Sárospatak has merged into the framework of the university. And development will never stop: there are endeavours to further widen the many-sided training character of the institution, combined with the large-scale modernisation of premises, IT and infrastructural background, and construction of new facilities. The 21st century will see a reborn and revived university of high standards, but one which still sticks to its traditions, facing the challenges in all aspects of life in the coming era.
The university continues to be a research centre too: the scientific and research work in the research centres at and around the university are the foundations for the international fame of Miskolc in the world of sciences. The scientific atmosphere and the educational activities are determined by the wide range of disciplines. Over 15,000 students and appr. 2,000 lecturers and staff live and work together on a self-contained campus. The university also builds strong intellectual and cultural links with the city of Miskolc in order to play a crucial role in the blood circulation of the town and the region and to form an integral part of the social and economic framework of the city, the region and the country. The University of Miskolc is focusing on preparing to meet the requirements of the next millennium.
The University of Miskolc has wide-ranging international relations in Europe and overseas. Cooperation agreements with a great number of foreign universities have been reached during the decades, which form the basis of well-established collaboration in the field of education and research. The university has been an active participant, either as coordinator or partner, in European educational and research projects.