You can read András Gombás' presidential application for the 2024 elections in its entirety here.

Introduction of the applicants

Gombás András

Applicant for SU president

I am András Gombás, a first-year student in the Master's program of Chemistry. I was born on November 15, 2000, in Budapest. I completed my high school studies at Karinthy Frigyes High School in Budapest, where I graduated in the spring of 2020. After that, I started my university education in the 2020/21 academic year in the Chemistry Bachelor's program at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE). I defended my Bachelor's degree in the summer of 2023, and then continued my studies in the Master's program starting in September 2023, which I am currently pursuing. I am expected to submit my Master's thesis in the spring of 2024. Alongside my Master's studies, I also plan to complete a teaching Master’s program in chemistry.

 

I have been actively involved in the ELTE Faculty of Science Student Union (HÖK) for the third year now. At the beginning of my career in the union, in the 2021/22 academic year, I served as the mentor and delegate as well as the coordinator of mentor training until the selection of mentors of the chemistry specialty. From the first assembly of the ELTE Faculty of Science HÖK's 2022/23 cycle, I served as the coordinator for the chemistry specialty. In the spring of 2023, I was elected as the commissioner for educational affairs by the General Assembly, a position I currently hold. I am a delegate in the ELTE Faculty Council, various faculty-level committees, the Chemistry Institute Council, the ELTE HÖK General Assembly, and the ELTE HÖK Educational Affairs Committee. In addition to my duties arising from these positions, during the 2023/24 academic year, I participate in the working group revising the ELTE Faculty of Science HÖK's regulations and in the activities of the ELTE HÖK Regulations Workshop. In addition to field-specific, faculty, and university-level responsibilities, I also participate in national-level advocacy efforts, attending certain sessions of the HÖOK Leadership Training and General Assembly, as well as the activities of the Association of Natural Science Students.

 

In addition to my involvement in the student union, I have been participating in the Teach for Hungary program for the third year, serving as a mentor in an elementary school in Cegléd. I have held a leadership mentor position in the program, and in the spring semester of the 2021/22 academic year, I was an ELTE mentor ambassador.

 

I wrote my Bachelor's thesis at the Laboratory of Theoretical Chemistry at the Chemistry Institute under the supervision of Péter Surján and Ágnes Szabados, in which I dealt with a partitioning method recently published in the literature in the context of multielectron perturbation calculations. I detailed the continuation of the work and our new results in my Scientific Student Circle paper, with which I achieved first place in the Physical, Theoretical, Analytical, Colloid, and Electrochemical section at this year's TDK conference of the Chemistry Institute and also won the Bolyai College special prize.

Novák Zsófia

Applicant for SU vice-president

I am Zsófia Novák, a fifth-year student in the Biology-Geography Teacher Training program. I was born on December 15, 2000, in Budapest. I spent my high school years in the natural science class of Eötvös József High School in Budapest. After graduation, I began my university studies at ELTE in 2019. During the spring semester of 2022/23, I spent my time abroad in Finland on an Erasmus exchange.

 

I first applied to be a representative in 2020. At that time, I was only elected as an alternate member, so I tried again the following year. This time I succeeded, and now I am in my third year as a representative in the Faculty of Science Student Union (TTK HÖK) General Assembly. In the 2022/23 term, I submitted my application for the position of commissioner of foreign affairs, which I won. Although I spent half of the term abroad, I believe I managed to fulfill all my important tasks, and the experiences gained during Erasmus actually helped me in my work. In the 2023/24 term, I applied again for the position and my application was once again voted in. During my tenure, I participated as a delegate in the ELTE HÖK Foreign Affairs Committee. Additionally, I served as a mentor twice in the TTK HÖK Mentor Program. Currently, I have been delegated to an Institute Council for the third year and for the first time this year, I am also a member of the Faculty Council.

 

I feel that fulfilling these responsibilities over the years has provided me with enough experience to understand the functioning of both the faculty and to a lesser extent, the other student unions within the university.

The plans of the applicant for SU president 

If elected, I would coordinate the operation of the Student Union according to the principles and goals detailed in the following program, in collaboration with the Vice President candidate and the officials.

If elected, I would strive to maintain constructive cooperation with the Dean's leadership of the Faculty of Science and the Student Office. Recently, in response to a suggestion from Dean Imre Kacskovics regarding the dean's application period and the budgetary scope of the faculty, we compiled a proposal package together with the TTK HÖK Campus Development Working Group, summarizing our suggestions for student-centered development directions at the ELTE Lágymányos Campus based on student proposals received and our own insights. We also raised the issue of quality assurance and improvement in relation to course descriptions, course topics, course requirements, and curriculum development based on student feedback to maintain and enhance the quality of education. We believe that our suggestions are also reflected in Dean Imre Kacskovics's leadership plan. Below are the competitive, internationally recognized educational objectives quoted from Imre Kacskovics's leadership plan:

• “we must launch intensive, non-SH program international recruitment

• we need to increase student mobility

• we need to improve course descriptions (LMS), prepare and announce the curriculum earlier, check and ensure the availability of teaching materials for mandatory undergraduate courses

• depending on the available resources, further development of the faculty's educational infrastructure is necessary

• we need to improve student living spaces.”

We agree with the proposed directions; therefore, in the event of Imre Kacskovics's re-election and our election, we would strive to channel further feedback, maintain constructive collective thinking and cooperation based on student needs during implementation. The work plan also includes goals related to creating the knowledge and competencies necessary for learning and development, stating that "we must launch the implementation of a healthy, sustainable environment and lifestyle at the faculty," which we also see as a guideline to follow, and in this regard, we consider preserving mental health to be of paramount importance.

The most important decision-making body of the TTK HÖK (hereinafter: Student Union) is the General Assembly, as stated in Article 9, Section 1 of the Articles of Association. However, elected representatives and alternate members of the General Assembly receive few substantive tasks in the current organizational structure, beyond attending the General Assembly meetings and reading the reports. They have little insight into the real work of the Student Union, as most of it is done by officials elected by the General Assembly. Moreover, the General Assembly meetings usually involve few substantive issues that attract active participation from representatives, often leading to partisan debates and prolonged sessions. Consequently, the work of representatives and alternates is not stimulating creativity or proactivity. This structure has led in recent years to increasing difficulty in filling representative positions at the beginning of the term and maintaining the number of mandates during the term, and the General Assembly's proceedings do not sufficiently incentivize involvement in the Student Union's activities.