University builds future-ready platform for world-class industry/education collaboration

There are many factors to be considered when choosing a university education. Geography certainly helps. Széchenyi István University believes it has a marked advantage. The university, founded in 1968, is situated in the heart of Central Europe’s ‘golden triangle’, equidistant from the capitals of Hungary, Austria and Slovakia, along highway M1 and on the river Danube.

Of course, geography alone is not enough. The university has grown steadily in recent years, becoming a specialist in engineering, business administration and music performance, and providing 35 courses taught in English.

Széchenyi István University is listed by two major higher education rankings organisations. For the first time, it features on the QS World Rankings and, this year, for the second time, it is ranked among the best in the world in the Times Higher Education (THE) list, which judges higher education institutions against the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The university is ranked among the top 200 HEIs in SDG’s ‘Sustainable Cities and Communities’ category.

In a competitive market for higher education, Széchenyi István University wants to attract fee-paying international students.

“To do so, we need to be world-class,” says Dr Zsolt Kovács, Chancellor, Széchenyi István University. “From the teaching to the facilities to the student experience.”

Enables an Always-Connected University Experience

For modern universities, a consistent, high quality digital experience is as important as the physical experience. The university wants its students to enjoy a dynamic and agile learning environment, with the ability to connect devices and access applications from anywhere on the campus.

“Wireless connectivity is non-negotiable,” says Béla Csábi, Head of IT, Széchenyi István University. “Every student lives with multiple devices. It’s how they run their lives.”

In practical terms, the university’s rapid growth over time has resulted in disparate network technologies across multiple sites. It has also developed an appetite for open source solutions. Rather than rip everything out and abandon its open source expertise, the team wanted to create a platform that would allow it to integrate technology as best as possible.

The challenge for Csábi is not so much to supply wireless connectivity but to manage network access across a dynamic, constantly moving user group with no real physical boundaries. Besides standard student devices, the university wants to enable digital teaching, roll out environmental sensors and make it easier for research teams to collaborate with industry. All of this depends on a robust, performant and secure network which, at the same time, ensures the highest levels of visibility, monitoring and control.

A Unified Network Architecture

Consolidating the complex and disparate network required an architecture approach – one which provided scale, flexibility and simplified management, and uncompromising security. A fully integrated Aruba wired and wireless design, centrally managed by AirWave Network Management, formed the template for this architecture.

The selection followed a successful pilot at the university’s management campus. Here, Csábi was able to test the centralised management functionality, with hundreds of new users coming into the auditorium. “We could also run streaming video and digital whiteboards with no loss of performance,” he says.

The choice of Aruba was a natural progression, he continues, with the university having a long-term relationship with Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “Many of our systems run on HPE infrastructure. We use HPE Gen10 ProLiant servers and have approximately 300TB of raw capacity on HPE Nimble storage.”

Creates Templates to Accelerate Future Deployments

The engagement establishes enterprise-class Wi-Fi across the university. It delivers the wireless-first network experience demanded by the university’s 15,000 students and creates a platform for Csábi and team to add new functionalities. Long term, Széchenyi István University plans to add environmental sensors, building management and location-based services.

“It is now easier to integrate devices into the existing, mainly open source management solutions – including Graylog, Observium, Icinga,” says Csábi. “Aruba Mobility Conductor makes it easy to create unified settings and access in the different buildings.”

He says the use of Zero Touch Provisioning was instructive in clarifying how Wi-Fi could be expanded: “The expertise we picked up was invaluable during the access point deployment phase. Zero Touch Provisioning made it possible to skill up on the configuration of the switches using the ample online documentations and to create the required configurations. We can now easily create configuration templates to deploy for future installations or any upgrades.”

It also accelerates the university’s broader digital transformation and brings Széchenyi István University in line with government expectations. There is a requirement for all education providers to migrate to paperless processes by 2027.

Strengthens Ties with Industry Partners

The upgrade also strengthens the university’s ability to attract industry partners – partnerships that attract new funding and create a compelling reason to study there.

In 2015, Széchenyi István University kicked off a collaboration with Audi (the automaker’s main engine factory is nearby), the ‘Audi Hungaria Faculty of Automotive Engineering’. Today, the university boasts professorships across internal combustion engines, automotive manufacturing technology, complete vehicle development, material science and technology, environmental engineering, logistics and shipping. Audi experts work directly with students on course content.

“The future of automotive engineering will involve robotics, mechatronics and AI,” Csábi points out. “We must create a learning environment that enables students to use these latest technologies. We have that with our new network.”

Delivers a First-Class Experience for Visitors

Simplified network management means the university is better able to host events and provide secure, eduroam access to visiting students, teachers and partners. The university’s central IT team can focus on the visitor experience rather than trouble-shooting fixes.

“It is simpler to manage network access and users enjoy better bandwidth,” says Csábi. “We host several trade shows and conferences each year. They’re important for both revenue and reputation. It’s important we provide a first-class service.”

Provides the Vision and Flexibility to Explore new Possibilities

The university’s journey continues. From its origins as a state provider of transport and telecoms training, it has had to make a huge leap to become an international destination for world-class education. The university has created an ambitious plan to attract innovators and start-ups to the region and to enable students to align with industry standards. The building of a new campus is being planned.

“Our engagement with Aruba is foundational,” says Csábi. “The ease of upgrade and the capacity mean we enjoy the best TCO. We have a clear roadmap – and are planning to replace our wired network with the latest generation of Aruba switching.”