Gyulay Zsolt, chairman of the Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB) and president-CEO of the Hungaroring Zrt., who visited the institution, would consider close cooperation with Széchenyi István University useful in several areas. The sports manager praised the development of the university of Győr.

It is a priority of Széchenyi István University to strengthen its relationships in the field of sports as well, thus offering more opportunities to its students. The visit of Gyulay Zsolt, chairman of the MOB and president-CEO of the Hungaroring Sport Zrt. to the institution to get acquainted with the possible points of connection and cooperation opportunities contributed to this effort.

During the meeting dr. Filep Bálint, president of the University, presented the strategies, educational, research and third mission activities and the services of the institution. He explained that the institution has undergone significant development in recent years.

As a proof of this, it is ranked between 801st and 1000th in the world by QS, one of the two largest global higher education rating organisations, and is also included in the Times Higher Education’s sustainability goals ranking, which ranks it among the world’s top 400 universities in the categories of “sustainable cities and communities”, “decent work and economic growth” and “peace, justice and strong institutions”. Of the institution’s student community of 14 thousand people, almost a thousand came from abroad, from 70 countries around the world to study in one of the 40 English language courses. He added that the university maintains extremely strong relationships with the actors of the economic sphere.

Dr. Filep Bálint emphasized that the regional impact of the university has increased significantly in recent years which is demonstrated by the fact that it also operates innovation and training centres in Budapest and in Zalaegerszeg, at the ZalaZONE automotive test track, in addition to the Győr and Mosonmagyaróvár campuses.

Continuing the infrastructural investments of the past decade, the institution is implementing further large-scale developments, such as the scientific and innovation parks in Győr and Zalaegerszeg, and the Health Technology Campus in Győr.

Szombati-Serfőző Eszter, director responsible for university services and student life of the university said that the institution considers the development of sport to be of strategic importance and places great emphasis on providing international quality conditions to the motions of national and international students, to leisure and competitive sports, in cooperation with the sport associations in Győr.

Dr. Gyömörei Tamás, head of the Sports and Recreation Centre of the university highlighted that the institution offers its students quality competitive opportunities in men’s handball and ice hockey, while in the case of women in basketball, in line with Győr’s sport strategy, both at national and international levels. And in individual sports, the university welcomes applications from talented young people in judo and rowing, building on its highly-qualified professionals and recent international successes.

“For actively spending the leisure time, SZESE has created an excellent network of indoor and outdoor sports facilities for volleyball, dragon boat, kayak-canoe, wall climbing, aerobics, streetball, futsal and curling”, dr. Gyömörei Tamás added.

Participants of the meeting: dr. Gyömörei Tamás, head of the University’s Sports and Recreation Centre, Ábrahám Csaba, president of the Győr Water Sports Association, dr. Sipos Gertrúd, director of portfolio management and wealth management of the University, Gyulay Zsolt, chairman of the MOB, president-CEO of the Hungaroring Sport Zrt., Szombati-Serfőző Eszter, director responsible for university services and student life at the University, and dr. Filep Bálint, president of the University. (Photo: Horváth Márton)

At the meeting it was mentioned that, in addition to traditional sports, the priority for the sports industry is to exploit the potential of e-sports. The e-sport department of SZESE is one of the most successful in the country. Gyulay Zsolt had a look at the university’s modern e-sport room, then he visited the two technological teams of the institution. Both the SZEnergy Team and the Arrabona Racing Team belong to the world’s elite: the former one won the Shell Eco-Marathon, Europe’s biggest energy efficiency competition in the autonomous car and urban concept categories as defending champion, with a world record last week, while the latter one finished on the podium in the German, Austrian and Hungarian Formula Student races as well last year.

Ábrahám Csaba, president of Győr Water Sports Association explained that as the most successful regional sports association they are seeking excellent cooperation with Széchenyi István University.

“Our water polo players compete as the members of the UNI family in the women’s first division national championship and in the junior age group championships as well. In the field of individual sports, kayak-canoeing is linked to the university life in several ways, and we would like to see the basics of the sport to complement the education. It is important for us to give our athletes a direction, that is why we pay great attention to their learning opportunities and to providing them with an academic background, and Széchenyi István University is an excellent partner in this”, he said.

During his visit Gyulay Zsolt commended the development of Széchenyi István University and he said that he considers the cooperation with the institution to be feasible in more fields. Besides student teams and the e-sport department, this could include SZESE’s newest motor sports department and the university’s “Study in Győr, do sport in Győr” programme. The latter one provides opportunities with mentoring, scholarships to top athletes who would like to study and obtain a valuable degree besides pursuing competitive sport. It can even connect to the Career Path and Dual Career programmes of the MOB.