At the 12th Mechanical Engineering Exhibition and Job Fair this year, there were 28 participating industrial companies, most of which operate in Debrecen and specialize in vehicle and machinery manufacturing, automation and production technology, showcasing their activities, products and services to engineering students as well as high school pupils. The companies offered job openings, internship positions and even topics for thesis and diploma projects at their respective stands.
At the official opening, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Géza Husi shared a brief lesson in history. He related how the mechanical engineering profession began in the 1780s during the first industrial revolution with the appearance of steam engines. Since then, there has always been a demand for mechanical engineers and, by all indications, this trend will continue to be the case in the future as well. What is more, this profession seems to keep reinventing itself. At the end of the 1980s, it was computerized spare part design that came in and, now, it is artificial intelligence bringing about yet another technological change.
- Possibly, the young people who are our first-year students are more skilled with AI than the instructors who have been teaching here for 10 or 20 years. Making up for this deficiency is long overdue, and we already have the right plan for how we should do it. This will be a giant step in our mechanical engineering training program- said Géza Husi.
The dean is confident that the Mechanical Engineering Exhibition and Job Fair offers an excellent chance for students, faculty and interested high schoolers to learn directly from companies about the directions which the industry is taking. The overall objective for those currently enrolled here and expecting to graduate as mechanical engineers in 2031 is to be able to use the most recent technologies with full awareness and confidence.
- It is quite clear how the needs of companies are shifting currently. In our region, there is now a much greater demand for engineers with a Master’s degree (MSc) than for those with a Bachelor’s degree (BSc). Therefore, we aim to achieve that at least 30 to 40 percent of the graduates from the University of Debrecen should enter the labour market holding an MSc degree- the Dean continued.
Tamás Mankovits, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UD’s Faculty of Engineering, emphasized that mechanical engineering education would be no longer limited to bachelor’s and master’s levels. Since the beginning of last year, the faculty has also been home to a Doctoral School of Mechanical Engineering Sciences. This doctoral school also offers the opportunity for earning an industrial PhD.
- Year after year, our event regularly fills the faculty’s inner courtyard, which serves as excellent feedback concerning the popularity of the program in mechanical engineering. We are continuously developing our curriculum, and I hope that companies see this as well. It is really good to see our own former mechanical engineering graduates at the company booths of the job fair engaged in conversation with our current students- said the department head.
Tamás Mankovits added that, thanks partly to the corporate partners of the Faculty of Engineering, the training programs are now assisted by state-of-the-art laboratories that meet Western European standards.
Deputy Mayor of Debrecen Lajos Barcsa mentioned that the environment for mechanical engineers in Debrecen is today significantly more favourable than it used to be 10 or 15 years ago. This development has been largely due to the arrival of new companies in the mechanical engineering sector. The university played a pivotal part in the success of these enterprises by promptly and accurately assessing the demand for skilled professionals and adapting its educational system accordingly. The greatest beneficiary of these changes has been the Faculty of Engineering- said the city official.
- Our objective is to make sure that everyone who acquires competitive knowledge should be able to find a job perfectly suited to their qualifications. For a mechanical engineer in Debrecen, it is now possible to plan and build a lifelong career, since there are ample opportunities for it in large as well as small and medium-sized enterprises alike- added Lajos Barcsa, Deputy Mayor of Debrecen.
Vice President Division of Industry of Hajdú-Bihar County Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sándor Győrfi remarked that mechanical engineering had always been a driving force behind progress. According to him, robotics and digitalization have advanced tremendously over the past 15 years, and artificial intelligence has also emerged. The local branch of Schaeffler Motion Technologies has already acquired its first humanoid robot, which will soon start its trial period in the Debrecen plant. “It is only highly qualified professionals that will be capable of operating or developing these technologies- said Sándor Győrfi.
Our world is undergoing changes in which the value and appreciation of the engineering profession and engineering expertise are increasing significantly, and the first step in this process begins at the university level- said the Vice President of the Hajdú-Bihar County Chamber of Engineers.
-The fact that we are currently attending the 12th Mechanical Engineering Exhibition and Job Fair demonstrates that education in Debrecen is recognized not only in Hungary but also abroad. After all, if the knowledge acquired by graduates in engineering were not of a high standard, these companies would not be competing for exhibition stands in order to attract these ambitious, high-achieving students- said János Bánhalmi.
Under the umbrella of the Mechanical Engineering Professional Days, the two-day English-language event called 12th International Scientific Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (ISCAME) was also held at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Debrecen (DE MK). This time, there were 332 professionals from 27 countries registered for the conference, which featured a total of 171 presentations across 19 sessions, together with an exhibition of 66 posters.
The main goal of ISCAME is to yearly bring together engineers engaged in research, development, and practical applications within the field of mechanical engineering. The conference provides a forum for researchers and engineers in the technical sciences to meet, discuss new concepts and ideas, and explore opportunities for future collaboration across all areas of mechanical engineering.
As a complementary event to the Mechanical Engineering Professional Days, an exhibition titled “We are in the picture: about our great technical figures” was opened at the Technical Library of DEENK, featuring works by Debrecen-based graphic artist, illustrator and caricaturist Viktor Kostyál. This exhibition showcases prominent figures from the history of Hungarian technical science and engineering through caricatures.
During the opening of this event, the artist donated two of his caricatures, one depicting Miklós Ybl and the other one about Imre Pekár, to the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Debrecen. The latter of these pieces was denoted specifically to the mechanical engineering community at UD.
The artworks will be on display at the Technical Library until November 30.
Press Centre - OCs