In terms of student and staff numbers, the quality of education and research, its international relations and prestige, ELTE is the elite institution of higher education in Hungary. Founded in 1635, the university has 8 faculties and was elected as a ‘University of Excellence’ and an institution with outstanding research. ELTE is ranked fifth in central and eastern Europe and has had many world famous scientists and 5 Nobel Prize laureates among its teachers and alumni. The number of students has reached 32 000 (1400 PhD students) and there is an academic staff of 1800 highly-qualified teachers and researchers.

The Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, founded in 1667, is recognised as a Place of Excellence in Hungarian higher education. Being the largest faculty of law in Hungary, it maintains wide-ranging international relations primarily with universities in Europe and is proud to be involved in educational and research projects with similar institutions abroad. The Department of Criminology plays a central role in Hungarian academic criminology: it provides a high-quality MA programme, functions as a high-standard research school in criminology and also hosts the HQ of the Hungarian Society of Criminology. Key staff members have both considerable experience in research in criminology and work experiences in senior positions in the field of crime policy. Head of Department Professor Miklos Lévay is not only a former President of the European Society of Criminology but serves as a judge in Hungary’s Constitutional Court.