The dormitories of the University of Debrecen will be expanded and upgraded as part of Országos Felsőoktatási Kollégiumfejlesztési Stratégia [National Dormitory Development Strategy in Higher Education]. Out of the overall program budget of two hundred billion forints, our institution’s share is HUF 15 billion, which figure is the highest among the sums allocated to institutions of higher education outside the capital city.
“Outside Budapest, it is the University of Debrecen that can dispose of the highest dormitory capacity. Following these investments, we will be able to fully upgrade the available buildings in addition to expanding the current capacities. This is going to be the most significant investment of this kind of all times in the history of the university,” said Imre Csiszár, Director of Debreceni Egyetem Kollégiumok [University Dormitories of Debrecen].
At present, there are 4996 places available for students in Debrecen’s dorms. The student residence facilities of the institutions in Debrecen, Nyíregyháza, and Hajdúböszörmény are operated at one hundred percent capacity utilization, for which reason further expansion is timely and necessary. By the end of the upgrading process in 2023, the University of Debrecen will be able to offer dormitory accommodation to a total of 5158 students, 162 more than now.
After the alterations, instead of the currently available 1912, there will be 2120 rooms for the Hungarian and international students, which is 208 more than right now. A new dormitory building, housing 350 students will also be constructed in the area of Böszörményi úti campus, planned to be located next to MAG-ház, but there are also going to be more places offered to students majoring in Special Needs Education at the Hajdúböszörmény faculty of pedagogy.
Imre Csiszár highlighted that, during the past couple of years, the requirements on the students’ side have also changed significantly, and the level of the services provided by the dormitories have become more and more crucial, too. Students tend to prefer the more state-of-the-art types of accommodation with all the mod cons.
The most recently completed dormitory for the students of the university is Campus Hotel, which was built more than ten years ago, in 2005, whereas the oldest dorms were officially opened in the 1950s.
According to the Director, about 55 to 60% of the dorm rooms at the University of Debrecen are in good condition even today, which means that, in the majority of the cases, there is only a minor remodeling necessary. There are, however, several buildings where a complete overhaul seems to be required right away. Where it is necessary to implement upgrading, walls will be moved, elevators replaced, and new plumbing or sanitary units installed.
The rooms that are currently used by 3 or 4 students will also be remodeled to become more convenient: by the end of the alterations, the majority of these will 2-bedded rooms with a separate bathroom and fitted with modern furniture.
“The number of international students at the University of Debrecen keeps growing from year to year and, even now, quite a few of the Erasmus and Stipendium students stay for the entire length of their program in one of the dorms. Thanks to the developments, the new dorm rooms will fully satisfy their demands as well,” said Imre Csiszár, who thinks that all this will represent a competitive edge when compared to the situation of the institutions of higher education in the immediate surrounding region and across the border in the neighboring countries.
The upgrading of the dormitories will be completely financed by state subsidies, implemented in several phases. During the zero phase of the investment, which is to last until 2018, the condition of the individual buildings is going to be surveyed and the beginning of the construction phase prepared. One objective is to make sure that the process of evacuating the buildings should be as smooth as possible. Following this, the dormitories of the University of Debrecen will be renovated in three phases between 2018 and 2023.
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