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Competition without Borders
2014. 09. 05.Faculty of Civil Engineering launched a summer practice programme for Brazilian CAPES students.
„Our primary aim is to support practice-oriented training and professional development with the involvement of industrial or university partners,” emphasized Dr. László Gergely Vigh, faculty organizer of the English programme. The Associate Professor of the Department of Structural Engineering also added that students were offered to choose between a summer practice placement and a professional competition to participate in.
| According to the agreement between the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES) and the Hungarian Rectors’ Conference the Hungarian government agreed to provide education for Brazilian students for 1-1.5 years in the framework of the Science Without Border grant programme. In autumn 2013 239 and in February further 221 Brazilian students joined BME training programmes. |
„Star Seismic Ltd. and CEOS Ltd. organized practical placement for some 15 Brazilian students for two months. We are aiming to extend our professional contacts and involve more companies, which would offer further practice opportunities for students,” the leader of the project explained.
Brazilian students choosing to participate in the professional competition launched in May were offered three categories:
- performing selected research projects in the field of civil engineering and preparing the related studies with the help of a senior researcher; individually or in groups of 2-3. Altogether 14 teams joined.
- performing a complex planning project (f.e. preparing site-plans, construction plans and structure plans for highway services) in groups of 5 students. 2 teams joined.
- planning and constructing a bridge of 1000 or 2000 mms in length with one, two or three arches - in groups of 5. Altogether 14 plans were submitted.
„The teams presented their plans in two sections in the competition closing ceremony in August. In the first section the committee of 4 experts (Dr. András Mahler, president, Dr. Annamária Dudás, Dr. Bence Takács, Lili Laczák) assessed the presentations of the planning and research projects.
„Among the project plans of generally very high standard in some cases experimental and theoretic research well above the expected BSc level occurred,” emphasized Dr. László Gergely Vigh.
In the second section the bridge constructions were presented. „A part of the project was to prepare statical measurements and we also asked students to estimate breaking loads of the structures. Geometric constraints of the bridges were determined by loading the bridges with our loading device,” added Dr. István Völgyi, section leader.
The senior lecturer of the Department of Structural Engineering informed us that participating teams gave presentations about stages of concept planning, statical measurements, building process and they also explained how they selected the materials and the structure for the bridges. The final step was the most spectacular element of the programme: loading tests of the bridges.
During evaluation of the applications the committee of four (Dr. István Völgyi, Dr. Gábor Jakab, Tamás Balogh, Viktor Hlavicka) considered aspects of aesthetics, innovation and keeping weight limits, besides breaking load values. „There were great differences in the training levels of the students,” said Dr. István Völgyi, „as there were some almost non-professional solutions but we also discovered remarkable ideas and excellent professional solutions as well.” „Some of the most interesting approaches were bridges prepared from ice-cream sticks, pasta or cardboard,” added Dr. László Gergely Vigh.
Winners of the three categories:
|
Name |
Category | Award |
| Gustavo Coldebella | Scientific | I. |
| ARTHUR PENDRAGON DE SIMONE | Scientific | I. |
| Marcelo Eduardo Fernandes de Oliveira | Scientific | II. |
| AMANDA OLIVEIRA MESQUITA | Scientific | II. |
| JORGE ELIAS BAZI FILHO | Scientific | II. |
| BERNARDO MACIEL FIGUEIREDO | Scientific | III. |
| BERNARDO WILD GROSSI VARELLA BASTOS | Scientific | III. |
| Isabella Garcia Castilho Toiansk Azevedo | Scientific | III. |
| Laís Freire Nunes | Scientific | III. |
| Jeverson da Costa Pinto | Design | I. |
| Gabriel Immich | Design | I. |
| Luís Guilherme de Oliveira | Design | I. |
| Vitor de Bortoli Catelam | Design | I. |
| Rafael Lopes Ferreira | Bridge | I. |
| JoĂŁo Victor Silva Rangel | Bridge | I. |
| Carolina Nakamoto | Bridge | I. |
| Clarissa da Costa França | Bridge | I. |
| Vitor Kunz Mazzochin | Bridge | I. |
| Pablo Vinícius Herculano Correia | Bridge | II. |
| Jéssica Girardi | Bridge | II. |
| Cíntia Bona | Bridge | II. |
| Marina Monteiro | Bridge | II. |
| Marcelo Henrique | Bridge | II. |
| Lorena Rayssa Cunha França | Bridge | III. |
| Julia Beletatti de Almeida | Bridge | III. |
| Camila Costa de Oliveira | Bridge | III. |
| José Maurício Azevedo Ferreira | Bridge | III. |
| Karina Miki Ichiki | Bridge | III. |
Participation rate in the competition and the closing ceremony was outstandingly high: 90-96%. Certificates and book prizes were handed to the award-winner competitors by Dr. László Dunai, Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Dr. László Gergely Vigh, principal organizer of the programme and faculty representative of the English language training.
„I am proud of the fact that altogether 550 students have chosen the University of Technology and therefore we are among the top five universities of the world in the Brazilian grant programme’s ranking,” highlighted the Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering in his speech at the ceremony. Dr. László Dunai also emphasized that over a hundred Brazilian students decided to study at Faculty of Civil Engineering of BME already in the first year of the programme. „It was an excellent opportunity to develop our English language course,” said the Dean, who also added that the previous year brought various challenges for both the students and the faculty staff.
In organizing the competition the principal organizer was supported by an organizing committee the members of which were: Dr. Annamária Dudás, Dr. Bence Takács, Dr. András Mahler, Dr. Balázs Kövesdi, Dr. Ádám Zsarnóczay, Dr. Róbert Németh, Tamás Balogh.
Special thanks go to the consultant professors, who supported students’ teams in participation: Tamás Balogh, Dr. Annamária Dudás, Dr. György Farkas, Péter Hegyi, Dr. Mátyás Hunyadi, Dr. Kálmán Koris, Dr. Tamás Kovács, Dr. Balázs Kövesdi, Dr. András Mahler, Dr. Péter Medgyasszai, Dr. Róbert Németh, Árpád Rózsás, Dr. Tamás Simon, Balázs Somodi, Dr. Csaba Tóth, Pál Turán, Dr. László Gergely Vigh, Dr. István Völgyi, Dr. Ádám Zsarnóczay.
Photos: Tamás Balogh, Lili Laczák, Viktor Hlavicka.
Photos: Tamás Balogh, Lili Laczák, Viktor Hlavicka