Budapest Metropolitan University turned 20 years old! With this series, we would like to honor the events and amazing memories of these past two decades by looking back at stories of our students, alumni, professors and staff members who have been with us on this journey. 

 

Meet Emese Pancsa, alumna of our Tourism and Catering BSc, Environmental Design BA and Product Design MA. 

How did you end up at METU? Why did you choose to study at the university? 

My relationship with METU goes back to almost embarrassingly early times. :)  

 

After finishing high school in 2009, I was planning to become a tourism professional. The bottom-up approach of TDM (Tourism Destination Management) and its potential to induce an upward economic spiral really captivated me. With the Tourism and Catering BSc I gained an economist qualification, as well as intensive university experiences. I was able to pick up so much from the research workshops, the Scientific Students' Associations and my professors. The professionals I was able to meet at the university (which was then called Heller Farkas College of Economics and Tourism) were the ones that convinced me to apply to the university in the first place. 

In the last years of the program, I started to take on more and more additional creative tasks during our project works - like designing a floor plan for a touristic concept and examining what system would be needed to work out the project more efficiently. 

 

I completed my internship at a summer camp for children with special needs in the USA. I set out on this journey after losing my father, and it made me rethink how I want to use my professional knowledge and my social sensitivity. By the time I returned home, I was certain about my ambitions regarding my further education. To find solutions to complex problems, I wanted to improve my art skills including applied arts and visual communication. 

 

After graduating I started working at a multinational company and I enrolled in a creative school to test myself and see if the creative field was really for me. At the end of the first term, we had the opportunity to show and receive feedback for our project works. I felt that I was ready to commit for the long term and to return to my Alma Mater.  

 

In 2014, I started studying at METU again at the Environmental Design BA program. It is thanks to my return and the projects during my studies that I was able to graduate from the Product Design MA in 2019 and meet Dr Ferenc Kiss, the Vice-Rector for Innovation of METU. We are still very close until today, and he is one of my doctoral supervisors at Breuer Marcell Doctoral School of Architecture. He has been a real role model for me, and he still provides me continuous opportunities to channel everything back to the university that I learn from my life and career. 

 

What's your first memory of METU? 

I have two ‘first’ memories of METU. I strongly remember the TDM period, and the first time I heard Márton Lengyel, the rector of Heller Farkas College (now called of METU) give a speech. I felt really honored to be able to listen to him after reading his book on the relationship of sustainability and economic growth.  

 

By the time I returned to METU as an art student, many things had changed at the university and its buildings. Where there used to be economic lectures, were now the place of art workshops and workrooms. It was surreal to see how much the spaces and I myself have changed in such a short time. However, this transformation made me feel at home and I knew that I was where I was meant to be. The open-minded and supportive community that awaited me was really liberating, and I could see that my classmates felt the same way. There were many others who were career changers or were still looking for their path - and this was perfectly fine. Our experiences and backgrounds were appreciated, and we were given all the tools to make use of these and to create value in an artistic sense as well. 

 

Tell us about your most determining experiences (the kindest, funniest, most exciting or most important) connected to the university! 

My most determining experience was the presentation of my project ‘TEMPO’ at the OTDK (National Scientific Students' Associations Conference) in Pécs, 2017. 

 

As environmental designers, we mainly received the foundations for internal space design, but we also learned about object design. In my second year, with the help of my engineer friends I presented a smart solution - a proactive health-preserving, musical bicycle -, which was clearly closer to the direction of product design. I remember making the design plans of TEMPO in an interior design program. There were many amusing ‘life hacks’ that helped us on our journey. I was excited to hand over the final product to the judges to try, but I was also extremely nervous – me and my project were very different. I didn’t fit in, which can be good, but also very lonely. However, my solution was met with openness and appreciation, and it gained the confidence of the judges. 

 

TEMPO won the Harsányi István Award in the human resource management category after I presented the project from an economist perspective as well, as a recreational office furniture of the future. Judit Talyigás came to my graduation ceremony to hand over the award in the name if the Manager Képzés Alapítvány (Manager Training Foundation). Judit told me that they have never received an art project application before. They were surprised at, but open towards my work - they even decided to hand over the award personally. It was very honoring to return to the field of economics in this way, and to experience that these borders can be crossed. Within a year, this appraisal led to a TEDx speech and a year-long scholarship to the Netherlands. 

 

This was all made possible by the environment created by my teachers and friends at METU. It’s thanks to my supervisor, Miklós Hefkó, who stayed after classes to discuss techniques with me, and who connected me with engineers to develop the prototype. The approach taught by the university brought us closely together. Until today, we are really close friends even with members of other teams. 

 

I wish all university students memories and experiences like this. :)  

 

Can you share any experiences at METU that had a great impact on your professional career? 

I think applying to the Creative Career scholarship was ‘step zero’ for me. Many people worried about me for leaving my path as an economist and starting an art degree just after losing my father - it seemed like a huge risk, and perhaps like a bit of an escape from reality.  

 

But I was certain that I was about to reach an important balance by engaging with environmental design and applied arts while building on my economist foundation. This is what I presented in my scholarship application to raise funds for the prototype of TEMPO. I shared how I saw my own path, and I received the affirmation and confidence I needed to make it into reality. 

 

This scholarship is one of the key supporting milestones that METU provides to its students who want to create something different from what the world expects. 

 

Being asked to deliver our graduation speech had a huge impact on me as well. I was able to express my gratitude to many. I wanted it to be a surprise, so I didn’t even share it with my family. Many students came up to me to thank me for my speech, even from other programs. It was really touching – I felt like the speech allowed us all to become one. It was a beautiful ending to this determining period. 

 

 

Which word would you use to describe your experience at the university? 

Intensive self-understanding, knowledge base, sea of opportunities – I could write long and endless list of associations, but I hope that the longer insights above are able to frame not only my professional, but also my inner experiences. 

 

What would you tell your university-student self? 

I am grateful for this journey with all its challenges, so I would only support and encourage myself. 

Perhaps to worry a bit less? On the other hand, these worries always have added value, even if they lead to a bypass. Today I can already see what I need to work on and change in my life - but perhaps because now is the right time for these. 

Ps: ‘Play to learn, learn to play.’ 

 

If you could use a time capsule to go back to your university years, is there anything you would do differently? 

Not really. I know there are still things I need to work on, but I wouldn’t rush things. I like where I am today. 

 

What do you think, what is the superpower of METU? 

Commitment and professional humility, combined with the power of community. 

 

What superpower did you gain thanks to the university? 

Recognition, awareness and use of professional and soft skills in a way to create value. The approach to consciously support good causes, the ability to think strategically and to make suggestions for change.   

 

What is the most important lesson METU has taught you? 

Skills and values are not in a causal relationship, but they work supporting one another. 

Where do you see METU in 5-10 years' time? 

I hope METU will be able to reach many more students with its approach and scaling up its student-oriented, individual talent care, all the while keeping the personal touch that makes it really work.  

I hope that it will be able to further extend its wings in terms of its infrastructure.  During my studies in the Netherlands, I have seen how much a wide variety of services, workrooms, equipment and extra opportunities (sports, health, food) can add to a university. 

Nothing can compare to and replace the professionalism and humility of the teachers at METU. Based on this direction, I hope the professors will have more flexible and extensive opportunities to hand over everything they want to domestic and international students alike. I hope for interdisciplinary integration of different faculties, with more and more common projects and increasing interoperability. 

I wish for METU to be able to support its students in co-working spaces where students can see the benefits of and take the opportunities of interoperability. 

2021. 10. 15.