page_title: Semmelweis University
section_title: Post-war years and socialism (1952-1989)
hierarchical_section_title: Semmelweis University / History / Post-war years and socialism (1952-1989)
caption_attribution_description: Magyar: Üllői út - Mária utca sarok, SOTE (ma Semmelweis Egyetem) Bőrgyógyászati Klinika. Location: Hungary, Budapest VIII. Tags: revolution, street view, damaged building, pedestrian, motorcycle, Budapest Title: Üllői út - Mária utca sarok, SOTE (ma Semmelweis Egyetem) Bőrgyógyászati Klinika.
context_page_description: Semmelweis University is a research-led medical school in Budapest, Hungary founded in 1769. Its 250 years of tradition and unique focus on health care make it one of the leading universities of medicine and health sciences in Hungary and the Central European region. With its six faculties and doctoral school it covers all aspects of medical and health sciences ranging from pathology through genetics, paediatrics, pharmacy, dentistry, dietetics, physiotherapy, nursing, health policy and management to conductor training.
  In addition to teaching, Semmelweis University is the largest provider of health care services in Hungary. Most of the departments cater for the most serious cases and patients requiring complex treatment, thus making the university a national health care provider.
  Research, development, and innovation comprise an important part of the University's three-fold mission. The target of research at the university are early diagnostics and therapy, disease prevention and active ageing. Currently, there are 300 research groups at the university including 31 international and 94 Hungarian research grants.
context_section_description: In the post-war period, the newly formed Budapest University of Medicine enjoyed a period of significant and extensive growth, as several hospitals – converted into clinics – were added to it. The University managed to establish previously missing departments, though this rapid development resulted in the University's territorial fragmentation.
  Following the withdrawal of the University's autonomy by the Communist state, it was placed under the strict central control of the Ministry of Health, which even prescribed the extent of its participation in regional medical care. Meanwhile, medical research was starting to involve increasingly expensive areas, which consequently resulted in the University's lagging behind the world's wealthier nations. To make matters worse, there was a political trend of reclusion in the 1950s, due to the exclusive Soviet influence.
  The essential components of a true university, such as the rector's office and the faculties took their final form in 1955. Pharmaceutical training was moved from Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences to the Budapest University of Medicine in 1951, and the training of doctors of dentistry in an entirely new system started in 1952.
  During the Revolution of 1956 the University found itself at the centre of events, with its clinics essentially taking the role of war hospitals and the University staff and students showing a truly heroic commitment to the national cause. Within a few weeks, the University buildings were afflicted with damage, and approximately 180 professors and staff members, as well as a large number of students, fled the country in the immediate aftermath of the Revolution. After the Soviet consolidation, development of the University continued, albeit at a slower pace than previously. The greatest investment of the period, the Theoretical Block at Nagyvárad tér (NET), was completed in 1978.
  In the 1960s, scientific contact with the western world, albeit gradual and under close supervision, became possible. On 7 November 1969, the bicentennial of the founding of the Medical Faculty at the University of Nagyszombat, the University decided to mark the occasion by taking the name of its most famous professor, Ignác Semmelweis, also known as “the saviour of mothers”. The Budapest University of Medicine thus became Semmelweis University of Medicine.
caption: The Department of Dermatology after the Revolution of 1956.
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