Dr. Szabó Lajos: A magyar ifjúság testi nevelésének története (A Sportmúzeum Kincsei 5. Budapest, 2004)

A kötelező egyetemi és főiskolai testnevelés bevezetése, jelentősége az élsportban

BEFORE 1945 PHYSICAL EDUCATION was an optional subject at the colleges and universities. In spite of it there was a very active sports life in almost all higher education institutes. University sports clubs were very popular (e.g. BEAC, MAFC) and they offered great chances for the university students both in competitive and leisure-time sports. Several of our Olympic champions (Sándor Prokopp, Ferenc Csík) were also university students or participated university sports clubs (BEAC). In 1952 physical education became compulsory at the first and second years of colleges and universities. Physical Education Departments were founded just like in the other socialist countries (EastGermany, Bulgaria). In 1956, during the days of the Revolution one of the first demands of the students were to abolish Russian and Physical Education as compulsory subjects. After the supression of the 1956 Revolution Physical Education was cleaned of elements of military training. The College and University Sports Centre set the aim to develop mass sport at the Universities, and students had the chance to select from different branches of sports. They put greater stress on international sport relations. The series of Universiade launched in 1959, have given chances to the Hungarian sportsmen to gain outstanding results. The Hungarian sports leadership several times entered sportsmen being university students only on papers. "Good student - good sportsman" movement was launched to sponsor first class real university students. From the 1970ies both the number of students and sports facilities grew in number. After the change of regime, there was a big change in university sports life. Among the severe economic conditions the existence and support of university sports clubs became uncertain. Physical Education Departments stopped existing. I