“In view of the Government Decision No. 1035/2016. (II. 9.) on providing the necessary resources for the capacity building related to the expansion of the foreign language programs of the University of Pécs and for the development of its research and development potential, which are being implemented as part of the Modern Cities Program (MVP), the government agrees with the implementation of the capacity building expansion of the University of Pécs in the frame of the Modern Cities Program, with the fact that in addition to the budget support established so far, the investment should be implemented with a total budget support of HUF 5,733,044,010 in the years 2020–2022.”
At the press conference of the University of Pécs on 27 October, dr. Attila Miseta, the rector of the university said that the investments of the Medical School are the foundation of the international competitiveness of the University of Pécs.
"Our declared goal is to improve the competitiveness of the university and the quality of higher education, as well as to provide the infrastructural conditions necessary to increase the number of students, which can help stabilize the number of foreign students above 5000. In 2013, I prepared this project as the dean of the Medical School with Professor Zsuzsanna Füzesi, we showed the positive effects of internationalization on the university and the city with the help of a study. Fortunately, representatives of the city administration and members of the parliament from the region also embraced our program. During the Prime Minister’s visit in 2015, it was decided that a complex university investment can be launched as part of the Modern Cities Program, which includes, but I could also say, the jewel in the crown is the new theoretical building of the Medical School” – said the rector.
He added that he is also proud that compared to other MVP developments, the University of Pécs is progressing outstandingly, several of its investments have already been handed over and several are almost completed. All faculties and organizational units can feel the positive effects of the complex developments and all university and Pécs citizens can be proud of these as a certainly worthwhile investment in education, healthcare, and research.
According to Dr. Péter Hoppál, Member of Parliament and Ministerial Commissioner, it was extremely important to notice in time that one of the most important development zones in this region could be the University of Pécs. When the government's decision on the $ 24 billion development was made, the then dean of the Medical School, now rector dr. Attila Miseta, and the then rector, today's State Secretary for Education, dr. József Bódis were able to present a perspective on the University of Pécs together, which showed that if the university develops, the city and the region develop as well. The renovation of the János Szentágothai Research Center and the Janus Pannonius Clinical Block is approaching the rate of the European Capital of Culture investment. MVP investments, supplemented with this additional resource, mean a development as much again for the university and Pécs.
István Decsi, chancellor of the University of Pécs said at the press conference that in the case of the new building of the UPMS, the UP selected the contractor in the frame of a so-called design & build procedure because the investment had to be carried out in such a way that the 400-bed clinical units on-site could provide emergency and other services without interruption, and education could not be interrupted in the related old theoretical building either.
“The situation was aggravated by the fact that the obsolete technical condition of the old building posed unpredictable risks, which, to the best of our knowledge at the time, were in themselves high uncertainty factors that conventional procurement procedures could not handle. Only the design & build process has provided a satisfactory response to the complex technical, organizational and financial risks by allowing design and construction to take place in parallel and to be able to respond flexibly to the risks arising from the above context. In the last 36 months, the construction has been continuous, a significant part of the building and the park have been completed, however, in order for the new building to be usable and to create the conditions for optimal operation, the HUF 5.7 billion additional support was necessary” - said the chancellor.
The chancellor listed three main groups of needs for which the additional funding came: the installation needs of the building designed for the end elements (laboratory furniture, information technology, educational infrastructure); elements ensuring the unity of the projects of the site (parking deck for doubling the parking spaces on the side of Honvéd Street, establishing a driveway on Kürt Street, construction of blasting chambers); and needs arising from the extent of the contractor's exceeding the risk-taking (the design & build procedure carries a higher risk than the procedures based on traditional construction plans because the actual construction content is outlined only after the construction plans).
Source:
PTE