2022-07-06
Hungary has many prestigious universities where you can develop your skills and broaden your knowledge. Even if you study in one of these institutions, our series about Hungarian universities will help you explore more. In this part, you can read about Hungary’s famous design university, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design.
Celebrating its 140th anniversary in 2020, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest
(MOME) is one of the most significant European institutions of design and applied arts. The predecessor of the university was the Hungarian Royal National School of Arts and Crafts and later on from the 1960s the Hungarian University of Arts and Design, both were significant actors in the development of Hungary’s visual culture. In 2006, the institution was renamed after the world-famous Hungarian photographer, painter, and professor of the Bauhaus school, László Moholy-Nagy. MOME is located in the 12th district of Budapest at Zugligeti Street, in a beautiful green environment, at the foot of the Buda hills amongst villas and pavilions.
On the one hand, MOME is a university that educates professional designers and media artists; on the other hand, it is an intellectual hub with the aim to enhance design consciousness in Hungary. In the current, 2021 application period, the university offers 9 Bachelor level programmes (BA), 12 Master level programmes (MA), 3 Doctoral programmes (DLA), and 1 PhD programme in the fields of design, photography, animation, fashion design, arts and craft, media art, graphic design, pedagogy, architecture, and design theory. Moreover, in the frame of MOME Open non-degree courses, the university also offers specific short courses such as service design or sound design, data visualization or street photo.
In the past few years, the university went through a major campus development programme which resulted in new academic facilities, a cutting-edge technology park, and a brand new innovation centre. The new campus which includes spacious lecture halls, seminar rooms, and one traditional and one digital library was finished in 2019. It is also equipped with a high-tech photo-, film-, and music studio, a digital visualization workshop, and labs with the most up-to-date technology and facilities providing an inspiring learning environment for the students. The campus is located in a beautiful green environment with parks suitable for chilling and socializing between classes.
Innovation, research, and business collaborations are key for the university that is supported by the activity of the MOME Innovation Center. The department conducts research in the fields of new media and physical technologies, socially responsible and ecological design, as well as design thinking and creative strategic methodologies. The university lays great emphasis on business partnerships with the actors of the creative industries, ensuring that students will receive first-hand practical experience during their studies.
MOME has a great international reputation that attracts more and more students from all around the world. In the past 30 years, the university built strong partnerships with European academic institutions, implemented international research projects, raised the number of students, teachers, and staff mobilities within and beyond the EU, and became part of several professional networks.
MOME has trained many outstanding designers and artists who received international recognition, such as the Red Dot Design Award, which is the most prestigious global prize in design. Just to name a few: in 2019, Ádám Nagy won the Red Dot with his design concept for Birosign, which is a biometric pen that offers signatory validation service for electronic signatures. In 2015, András Húnfalvi and Ferenc Laufer won the award in the product design category with their design for HandInScan, a multi-award medical device, which is able to distinguish disinfected hand surfaces from infected ones.
MOME is also a significant actor in fashion. Many internationally acclaimed fashion designers received their training at the university, such as Adél Kovács, the founder of the highly successful Hungarian fashion label NUBU, who designed Hungary’s outfits for the 2020 Olympics, or Dóra Tomcsányi, who is one of the most sought-after fashion designers in Hungary.
MOME has always played a decisive role in the development of Hungarian design life and has been since its creation an outstanding institution in the local art and design scene. Most of the graduated students succeed in obtaining major roles in their creative field. The university itself serves as a professional gathering point at international levels as well. To get insight into the work of MOME students, check out the virtual showroom of the university HERE!
