New Department at the Faculty of Informatics

A special research and education oriented organizational unit has been established by NI Hungary at the Faculty of Informatics of the University of Debrecen in order to assist students enrolled in Computer Science, Business Informatics and Computer Science Engineering BSc and MSc programs. In addition, the US-based company has also supported the installment of a new computer laboratory through a donation worth more than 4 million HUF.

The Faculty of Informatics of the University of Debrecen has been in cooperation with NI Hungary Kft since 2007 in the fields of education and program development. At the press conference held on Thursday on the occasion of launching the new department and inaugurating the computer lab, it was announced that, through the foundation of the Information Technology Off-Site Department and the opening of the NI Computer Lab, the cooperation between our faculty and its partner company would become even closer than before. 

András Hajdu, Dean of the Faculty of Informatics of the University of Debrecen, underlined that the faculty would always be intent on signing cooperation agreements with its partners, including NI Hungary Kft, contributing to the efforts of students to acquire skills and experience that are marketable and easily applicable in a corporate environment.
 
“The presence of NI is beneficial for several reasons, one of which is that it plays a decisive part in the life of our department as a private stakeholder, through which our students can become the recipients of authentic competitive knowledge and expertise. We plan to expand this connection later on in the fields of research and development, too, which can cover the instruction of subjects like data science and artificial intelligence,” said the Dean of the Faculty of Informatics.

Róbert Hosszu, Managing Director of NI Hungary Kft, underlined the following details: NI has been an active part of the educational activities of the faculty for quite some time and has provided internship possibilities for the students for several years. The latter are welcomed at the company with its international environment in a supportive spirit.

“It is in the interest of NI strategically that there should be more and more highly qualified young individuals available in our region, where IT is considered an important segment. In addition to the theoretical knowledge, our expert instructors can also transfer practical skills to the students, which they can immediately put to good use in the labor market. The newly opened lab classroom is also to contribute to this effort. It is essential that we further strengthen our relationship with the University of Debrecen because the accumulation of knowledge will be a key factor in the future. At the same time, we not only supply knowledge and skills to the students but also wish to provide them with an attitude, while we support them in their effort to find a good job,” said the Managing Director of NI Hungary Kft

According to Márton Ispány, Vice-Dean of Educational Affairs at the Faculty of Informatics of the University of Debrecen, NI represents a pool of knowledge in the programs offered by the faculty that can be provided only by a corporate industrial entity.

“NI needs information specialists who, in addition to participating in production, can also contribute to other processes in the company, like, for example, research and development. This is why they offer subjects in our programs such as software engineering in a corporate environment or career management. At the off-site department, there will be even more new subjects introduced, some of which will be related to the latest technological developments in data science,” said the Vice-Dean.

László Bakó, IT Section Manager at NI, Head of NI’s Information Technology Off-Site Department, said that, through the educational activities, his company could actively contribute to implementing the educational objectives and corporate social responsibility in our region.   

“Apart from the regular professional days, our internship programs are also very popular. Over-registration is not unusual, as we can receive only ten interns per semester. After taking part in our long-term internship program, almost all participants can find a position for themselves at our company after graduation. The current project of cooperation will definitely elevate our joint work to new levels of efficiency,” said the head of the new off-site department.

According to the agreement signed, NI Off-Site Department of Information Technology will start to operate as of September 2022. Its introduction serves the purposes of expanding the educational portfolio and the available teaching material. In the interest of these objectives, several new courses will be accredited and taught starting this September. The venue of the new computer lab, which is located on the third floor, has been furnished with the support of NI of a total of HUF 4,620,275, and will be primarily used by students majoring in Computer Science, Business Informatics and Computer Science Engineering.

Press Center – BZ