“In our time, the technical and technological development has become so fast that an institution of higher education simply does not have the necessary capacity to introduce the most recent and modern technologies to the students in addition to covering the basics of science and engineering in the curriculum. This is exactly why we need highly reliable corporate partners that can contribute to preparing our students for the tasks of using high-tech procedures and technologies applied in the contemporary branches of industry,” said László Csernoch in his address delivered at the donation ceremony on Wednesday.
The Vice Rector for Academic Affairs at the University of Debrecen highlighted the exemplary nature of the close cooperation between UD and NI Hungary Kft. He also underlined the fact that, as a result of the support from the corporate sector, the students of the university would be able to learn the ropes of properly operating state-of-the-art equipment during the course of their practical training.
“With the help of the off-site department established by the company, our institution is now in a position to turn out specialists with an expertise required by NI Hungary and similar companies within this branch of industry,” said Vice Rector Csernoch.
In his address, Róbert Hosszu, Managing director of NI Hungary Kft., underlined the fact that the cooperation between the company and the university had been close and uninterrupted ever since the foundation of the former. This cooperation was then made official through signing a strategic agreement of cooperation in 2019, which has been continuously filled with up-to-date content since. At present, it is the consequence of this exemplary collaboration that graduates from the University of Debrecen can now find a job either at the US-based firm or in other areas of this industrial sector.
Since the foundation of NI Hungary Kft. 20 years ago, this corporate partner has gradually increased the volume of its educational cooperation with the University of Debrecen. Through joint educational and research projects and high-value hardware and software donations, it has contributed to the efforts of ensuring the compatibility of the programs offered at the regional center with the highest technological and knowledge requirements. The amount of support in the form of equipment and software provided by the American company only in the past three years exceeded HUF 100 million. In July 2021, NI established an off-site Department of Mechatronics at the Faculty of Engineering, where the undergraduates are introduced to real-life industrial solutions, designing simulations with the help of cutting-edge software (MultiSIM and Ultiboard), and devising and producing PCBs.
In agreement with the university, NI Hungary Kft. has decided to establish a laboratory with a floor space of 125 square meters in the new building planned to be erected on the Ótemető utcai campus of the Faculty of Engineering, where ideal conditions for professional measurements would be made available for the students. As regards further support for engineering in higher education, NI has also extended its previously conferred permission to use its LabVIEW license up until 2030 at UD and granted a permit for the use of its Multisim and Ultiboard software products for an indefinite period of time by the relevant majors and specializations.
Honorary Associate Professor Csanád Makkai, Director of Manufacturing Engineering at NI Hungary Kft. and Head of the Off-Site Department of Mechatronics, highlighted that the firm would donate monitors, books of quality standards and NI products totaling the value of HUF 4 million (12 100 USD) to the Department of Mechatronics. At the same time, the electrical engineering program offered by the Institute of Physics at the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Debrecen would be the recipient of a donation to the tune of HUF 7.4 million (22 700 USD), including servers, monitors and books of quality standards. This endowment is meant to be used for raising the quality of electronic production technology education even higher on the one hand, while on the other hand, it is intended to be utilized in individual or team-based student projects inspired by the industrial partner.
The members of the top management of NI expressed their hope concerning how this most recent contribution could deliver an important message to the actors on the electronic industry scene, motivating them to consider it a strategic cause to support the engineering and science programs of the University of Debrecen in order to increase the awareness and attractiveness of this sector.
Press Office
