Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 51-53. (Budapest, 1969)
TANULMÁNYOK - Antall József: A modern felsőoktatási rendszer kialakulása Magyarországon (1848—1890) (angol nyelven)
THE EMERGENCE OF THE SYSTEM OF MODERN HIGHER EDUCATION IN HUNGARY by JÓZSEF ANTALL T he 600th anniversary of Hungarian higher education was celebrated two years ago, in 1967, when the foundation of an university at Pécs in 1367, a contemporary of the universities of Vienna and Cracow, was commemorated. Due to her historical circumstances: the Turkish occupation and the rule of the Habsburgs, Hungary was unable to maintain even her existing universities, not to say to found new ones. The university of Kolozsvár (to-day Cluj, Rumania), founded by István Báthory, Prince of Transylvania (and King of Poland), declined and disintegrated. It was a slow process until the Jesuit University of Nagyszombat (to-day Trnava, Czechoslovakia) the predecessor of the present Budapest universities, which was founded in 1635, developed into a modern state university and the Calvinist College of Debrecen, set up in the 16th century, grew into a modern university only in the 20th century, like the third state university, that of Pozsony (to-day Bratislava, Czechoslovakia). The absolutistic rule of Queen Maria Theresa and King Joseph II in the second part of the 18th century undoubtedly meant a step forward by modernizing Hungarian public education in the name of state reason, although they met opposition in certain fields as they aimed at the suppression of Hungarian national aspirations. The university of Nagyszombat was reorganized and completed with a medical faculty (in 1769) and was transferred to Buda in 1777. Besides the endeavours of the absolutistic Court mention should be made of the efforts of the Hungarian national movement generated by the spirit of enlightenment, which aimed at establishing scholarly and scientific societies, creating a scientific language and reforming higher education. The movement then did not bear much fruit but it was the forerunner of the program of reforms which permeated the nation in the Age of Reforms (1825—1848), the national revival started by Count István Széchenyi and further carried by Lajos Kossuth. JÓZSEF EÖTVÖS AND THE STUDENTS IN 1848 The great transformation of 1848 had a preparatory period which was characterized by the ripening of ideas, the forging of plans, and by great individual efforts. Similarly to the other unsolved problems, the case of public education could advance only with the March revolution of 1848 and the setting up of 6i
