Increasing the students’ and teachers’ motivation and involving the industrial and business sectors were some of the issues discussed at the CEEPUS Network meeting on circular economy and energy efficiency held recently at the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management of the University of Debrecen. There were experts from as many as seven countries participating in this international academic consultation.
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The University of Debrecen continues to maintain its leading position among Hungarian institutions of higher education in the QS sustainability rankings. It was ranked 322nd in the Sustainability 2026 world rankings published on Tuesday by the British ranking agency Quacquarelli Symonds, which makes it the best Hungarian institution. In the latest Shanghai Ranking Subject list, also published on Tuesday, UD was ranked in the 301-400 category in the field of ecology, again finishing as the best Hungarian university.
The Confucius Institute of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Debrecen (UDFH) and the Deutsches Kulturforum Ott-Home International Meeting Point organized a Chinese language course for residents of Debrecen for the first time. Those who successfully completed the course received their certificates on 12 November, Wednesday.
Almost one hundred students in twenty-eight teams participated in the i-Days for Life Debrecen hackathon on healthcare organized at the Innovation Center of the University of Debrecen on 10 November, Monday, and 11 November, Tuesday.
The number of foreign students at the University of Debrecen has continued to grow, with almost 7,800 students studying at UD in the 2025/2026 academic year. Attila Jenei, Director of the Coordinating Center for International Education, advocates the continuous development of the English-language training system to maintain the popularity of the institution in the international student market and to increase competitiveness.
The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Debrecen awarded this year’s Debrecen Prize for Molecular Medicine to molecular geneticist Jeffrey M. Friedman, a medical researcher at the Rockefeller University of New York. The professor and his colleagues identified leptin, a hormone produced by adipose tissue, which plays a role in regulating body weight. Professor Jeffrey M. Friedman received the award at a ceremony held at the University of Debrecen on Tuesday, after which he gave a lecture on the causes and treatment options of obesity.
The University of Debrecen has become a full member of the Turkic Universities Union. The decision on the membership was passed recently at the 8th general assembly of the Union, held at Tashkent International University. The alliance creates opportunities for higher education cooperation, and from now consists of as many as 170 institutions, including the newly joined countries.
The University of Debrecen has published its new image film presenting the philosophy of the stronghold of Hungarian higher education. Commitments, aims, failures, successes, life stories.
Rector Zoltán Szilvássy has awarded a two-year research scholarship to the three foreign students who represented the University of Debrecen at this year's Hackatom world competition in nuclear medicine. After winning the Hungarian round, two of them took part in the world finals, where they achieved great success, finishing in third place.
Several Chinese partner institutions recently discussed research and development, educational cooperation, and mobility opportunities at the University of Debrecen. The planned ideas primarily concern the fields of medicine, health sciences, and engineering.