Technikatörténeti szemle 23. (1997-98)

TANULMÁNYOK - Vámos Éva Katalin: Women’s Opportunities of Studying and Practising Engineering in Hungary from 1895 to 1968 (On the example of Budapest Technical University and its women students)

University and college education in Hungary, 1945-1947 At the end of World War II Budapest, and with it the Technical University, were in ruins. In the last months of the war the radical right government forced groups of students of medicine and engineering, together with their professors, to leave for Germany In the age-groups excluded from studies owing to the war there was an enormous demand for making up for the missed opportunities. Although new university chairs were soon created and the teaching staff was reinforced in ..democratic spirit", it was impossible to satisfy the immense demand. As soon as in summer 1946 limit numbers for the admission and entrance exams had to be introduced again. The governments still relying, at that time, mostly on a coalition basis, set it as an aim, as early as in 1946, to change the social composition of the students and to make universities available to children of worker and peasant parents.

27 Opening of all faculties to women Equal educational opportunities were also granted to women. As soon as on August 15, 1945, the interim national government issued a decree (6660/1945), by which it was made possible for women to attend the Faculties of Law and Political Science of all the universities of science in Hungary unrestrictedly. The Minister of Religious Affairs and Public Education, count Geza Teleki gave the reason of this step as follows: "In the surrounding as well as in the great western countries women are not excluded from university-level tuition in the disciplines of the law and from obtaining the pertinent degree." All faculties (except theology) of all the universities and, among them, all the engineering faculties of the technical university were opened to women by law XXI1/1946 „On women's admittance to universities and colleges". This reads as follows: "§1. (1) Women can be admitted as students to all the faculties of universities as well as to colleges within the established numbers, without any restriction. (2) For admittance of women to universities and colleges conditions should be the same as for the admittance of men. (3) The ruling in (1) does not affect the regulations valid until now and concerning admittance to theological faculties." Minister Dezsd Keresztury gave the reason of the law In a way characteristic of post-war years: "The termination of the restrictions is justified, on the