Semmelweis University – Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (Hungary)

Founded in 1769 as the Medical Faculty of what was then the University of Nagyszombat, Semmelweis University is the oldest medical school in Hungary. The Faculty became an independent medical school after World War II and has developed into a university that teaches medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, health sciences, health management, as well as physical education and sport sciences.

With an over 240-year-old tradition of academic excellence, Semmelweis University is widely recognised as one of Europe’s leading centres of medicine and health sciences, combining innovation and a time-tested tradition in three main areas: education, research, and health care.

A truly international community, the University embraces nearly 12,500 students from 64 nations around the world; foreign students account for nearly a quarter of the total student body.

Its six faculties offer a wide range of programmes from undergraduate to doctorate level in three languages: Hungarian, English and German.

Ranking among the most prestigious Hungarian research institutions, more than 1300 of its staff members are actively involved in ongoing R&D activities.

Semmelweis University is one of the largest health care institutions in Hungary, covering approximately six percent of the nation’s health care needs.

The history of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (SE PPK) dates back to the 19th century. The first Hungarian department of psychiatry was founded in 1882 by Károly Laufenauer. Currently SE PPK is responsible for the psychiatric care of 250 000 inhabitants. The total number of employees is 116 people including 29 medical doctors, 1 biologist, 3 psychologists, 7 graduate nurses and 38 nurses. Hundred active, 19 major rehabilitation and 7 chronic beds are for medical attendance. The clinic has a day hospital with 25 active and 13 chronic spaces, too.

The clinic provides medical attendance for the full spectrum of psychiatric patients on the one hand in the regional supply on the other hand as a leader institution of psychiatric care. The outpatient clinics of SE PPK play also an important role in the modern medical attendance of psychiatric patients.

SE PPK houses the Research Laboratory for Neuropsychological Assessment and has a combined experience of over a decade of working with the latest innovations in the field of organic disorders in psychiatry. It has five wards amongst one is exclusively for the treatment of the elderly. It provides the key infrastructural components for the proposed project, including a fully equipped Psychophysiological Laboratory with Electromagnetic (EEG) Tomography and physiological data recording systems (BIOSEMI) as well as a Virtual Environment Development and Testing Unit.

SE PPK teaches psychiatry at graduate and postgraduate level in Hungarian, English and German for students of the Faculty of Medicine. New area is the psychiatric education of dental students, health visitors and graduate nurses as well as the psychological education of pharmacy students.