ENCOMPASS (ENCyclopedic knOwledge Made a Popular ASSet)

Magyar Telekom, T-Online and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences founded Mindentudás Egyeteme (ENCOMPASS) in 2002 with the goal of reviving Hungary's high standards of scientific education and raising the profile of leading national scientists. The University operates through a combination of online components and collaboration with television and radio networks, as well as newspapers.ENCOMPASS incorporates the long and respected heritage of international and Hungarian public science, while diverting from traditional forms of teaching and learning.

ENCOMPASS film:

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ENCOMPASS was created under the aegis of public and private partnership with the academic supervision of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and sponsorship from the corporate social responsibility programmes of telecommunications companies Magyar Telekom and T-Online. Within the collaboration Magyar Telekom and T-Online provide project management and info-communication know-how, infrastructure and significant financial support. The three principles laid out by the founders were making the position of science competitive in the media world, popularising Hungarian scientists and enriching Hungarian language culture on a value basis. As a first step towards participation in a greater Europe, Mindentudás Egyeteme has found a new name for the promotion of its programmes abroad: ENCOMPASS (ENCyclopedic knOwledge Made a Popular ASSet) and has launched its new, foreign language website. The name 'ENCOMPASS' truly describes the content-creation process at Mindentudás Egyeteme whereby ideas and subjects of potential interest are taken from the lofty world of science and shared with the general public with the help of modern-day multimedia, in a manner that should prove as engaging as it is informative.


ENCOMPASS and society: from enlightenment to participation

In 2001 the European Union defined the programme of corporate social responsibility within the concept of "good government". Its elements such as openness, participation, transparency, coherence and efficiency together facilitate sharing information, the involvement of experts and civilian society in decision-making, transparency of decision-making processes and an analysis of the expected effects. The scientific-political basis of the relationship between science and society dates back to the PUS (Public Understanding of Science) movement launched by the Royal Society in 1985 and its later versions. The ENCOMPASS programme is the Hungarian manifestation of the PUS movement. Corporate social responsibility as part of the business philosophy of Magyar Telekom and T-Online, as well as the scientific responsibility of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, have together provided for the implementation of the PUS programme in Hungary. The project aims at raising public awareness and facilitating dialogue between science and society. In its new form PUS is approaching the discussion model of democracy under the new name PEST (Public Engagement with Science and Technology). ENCOMPASS strives not only to win and maintain public awareness for science and technology but also to involve the population in the programme: as a member of the interested and informed audience, a user of the internet portal or a viewer/listener of various media, they become the main character of the programme and show proof of the high level of social perception of science in Hungary.

We have already come to the eighth semester of the lectures held each Monday,at 7.30 pm in the Studio of Millenium Park Theatre. As of now, a nine-week pre-lecture "production process" has been developed. The satellite programmes build on the lectures. The programme is operated by a permanent team of 10 and an outside partnership network of 70 individuals.

Scientific marketing

ENCOMPASS includes a diverse product portfolio

ENCOMPASS incorporates a live lecture, television programme, radio broadcast, newspaper, book and a website with interactive elements stimulating participation. On the social level, therefore, this is the first communication "mix" where the various communication channels are deliberately combined.

The media presence of the programme is total by today's standards due to its visibility on three TV stations five times a week. The three public networks air each lecture a total of five times, one of which is aimed specifically at overseas viewers of Duna TV. The lectures are regularly shown on local television stations as well. The Hungarian public radio network and one of the commercial radio stations also broadcast the programme. Readers of all national newspapers and two-thirds of the regional papers can familiarise themselves with the text version of the lectures and the biographies of the lecturers. Through the newspapers and weeklies this scientific information reaches one and a half million individuals every week. Educational television programmes and discussions address the topics by referencing the lectures and even presenting excerpts of the individual sessions.

AWARDS
Having become a unique brand, the programme has achieved unprecedented success due to the organic mix of its value-based scientific approach, professional media presence, and marketing. As a sign of its media success, Hungarian PR agencies, i.e. the real professionals, recognized ENCOMPASS with the Süveg Award in 2004.

As evidence of its social recognition, the programme received the Prima Primissima Award of 2004 in the category of teaching and public education.

The general meeting of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences has awarded three top managers of Matáv Hungarian Telecommunications Ltd. (now Magyar Telekom), one of the founders of ENCOMPASS, with the Wahrmann Mór Medal in recognition of their work for the social recognition of the sciences and in the development of a knowledge-based society. The award was ceremonially presented by E. Szilveszter Vizi, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, to Chief Executive Officer Elek Straub, Chief Human Resources and Legal Officer Dr. Tamás Pásztory, and Director of Training and Knowledge Managment Directorate László Sallai on 3 May 2004.

In memory of the 100th lecture of ENCOMPASS, the management of Hungarian Radio P.L.C. issued a diplomaon 4 May 2005. Ever since the programme was launched, listeners have been able to follow the lecture week by week. The award is on par with the Nívó Prize regularly awarded by Hungarian Radio P.L.C.

Facts
One of last year's market research projects also indicated the growing need for science infotainment. According to the representative sample, close to one-third of the adult population have heard of Mindentudás Egyeteme (ENCOMPASS), two-fifths have seen at least one of the lectures on television, and over 80 percent attribute great importance to dialogue between researchers and those interested in sciences.

What we have accomplished:

- seven semesters with weekly lectures
- 6 lectures outside Budapest, 2 in neighbouring countries
- 53 club discussions
- over 125 sheets of lecture material
- about 3650 animations and illustrations
- close to 160 hours of television recording
- 4 published volumes
- some 200 regular attendants and an audience of 380-500 at each lecture (a total of approx. 32,000 people)
- 200-250,000 television viewers per week on average
- an average of 40,000 radio listeners
- an average of one million newspaper readers
- 7 650 000 internet page impressions

SATELLITE PRODUCTS
Book series
Four volumes have been published, which - in addition to the high number of copies sold and the professional recognition received - proves that together with Kossuth Publishing we have achieved a true publication feat: we have preserved the multimedia character of the lectures using their rich and high-quality illustrative material.. Thanks to its notes, references and terminology, the publication may be used as a textbook, and is suitable reading material for laymen and professionals alike.

ENCOMPASS Club (2004)
Loosely related to the topics of the lectures, the club has been founded with the involvement of scholars.
- An interactive and less formal discussion with the experts, the club primarily focuses on the deepening understanding of ENCOMPASS among intellectuals.

Lecturers' Club (2004)
- Aims at involving lecturers in brand building.

Contest (2005)
KI MIBEN MINDENTUDÓS? - national high school competition
On March 22, 2005, with the sponsorship of the Ministry of Education, ENCOMPASS launched a new contest series for secondary school students, in order to strengthen the link between students and science. The series was built on the continuously expanding amount of information included in the lectures of ENCOMPASS covering all disciplines and available in both written and video formats at www.mindentudas.hu.
The contest started with 7 rounds of so-called "web-based qualifying trials" over the internet, scheduled for April 11 - May 29, 2005.
The regional finals took place at six different times between September 24 and October 9 in major Hungarian cities.
The 12 teams who got into the national semi-finals from the regional finals were scheduled to participate in a training camp between October 24 - 28, 2005.
3 teams competed in each of the four semi-finals. The four winners then met in the final, where there were four teams. The finalists had to solve various exciting tasks such as fast-paced quizzes, scientific problems and exercises requiring creativity and presentation challenges, in order to prove that they were worthy of the title "mindentudós" (omniscient).
In November and December, the Hungarian Television Network broadcast the semi-finals and final.

Student Card (2005)
ENCOMPASS student card system
By introducing a student card system, ENCOMPASS wishes to reward the loyal followers of the programme from the local or internet audience who regularly complete the ENCOMPASS tests.
The ENCOMPASS student card system is to be launched in two stages. From 7 March 2005 anyone can electronically apply for the first student card, which is primarily equipped with a "point collecting" feature. Those collecting 100 points will receive the ENCOMPASS premium student card called the "Mindentudó" (omniscient) card providing major savings for its owner.
Points may be collected in several ways, such as attendance at lectures or club discussions, completing the test available on the website, or acquiring the e-learning curriculum. At the same time the services and discounts available for cardholders are expected to continuously expand.

Online education - the E-learning curriculum
Supporting the idea of life-long learning, this year, as a new development among the available system tools, we are going to publish an e-learning curriculum on the ENCOMPASS website, built on the topics of over 100 lectures presented so far in the programme.
This form of learning is different from the traditional education methods in that it is not completed in the form of an accredited training programme honoring a degree, but is rather based on personal interests and commitment. The new curriculum is different from the increasing number of voluntary knowledge groups found on the internet as it is built around an institutional programme characterised by planning and systematisation, and the students who sign up receive help from tutors.
The first three topics to be developed into e-learning modules cover astronomy, genomics and the world of nations. Later on, full access to our e-learning curricula is going to be one of the benefits of the ENCOMPASS premium student card named "Mindentudó". In addition, the e-learning curriculum of ENCOMPASS is going to become part of the traditional university programme and will be made available for university students.

Development of the scientific and artistic learning of underprivileged groups
We are involving the disabled, the Romany youth and large families in our continuously expanding programmes. Romanic students from the schools of Budapest, as well as physically disabled children from the Pető Institute have participated at our club discussions and museum visits held in the Hungarian Natural History Museum. Sponsored by Family Aid Centers, underprivileged families regularly visit our museum club events. ENCOMPASS covers the travel expenses of disabled groups and groups traveling from outside of Budapest to our events.
In each semester we provide the library of the National Association for the Hungarian Blind and Partially Sighted with the audio versions of the lectures. Secondary students with hearing disabilities regularly visit our lectures where sign language interpreters provide assistance for them.

Community feedback: the internet forum

The nature of the Hungarian-language content available on the Internet is of decisive importance from the perspective of the present and future of Hungarian culture and the national identity of Hungarian youth in the information age. The ENCOMPASS website is accessible from the origo portal, the most frequently visited Hungarian language website. We offer encyclopedic content with quality technological implementation within the framework of the origo internet portal. It is safe to say that www.mindentudas.hu is the most popular Hungarian language science portal with thousands of pages downloaded every day.

Finally knowledge is value ... people have long awaited this programme ... it is such a good idea that I only regret not having thought of it myself... (comments on the forum)

"...I participate in the ENCOMPASS programme over the internet from abroad. Therefore I can only read it but I am still very interested and have not missed a single lecture..." (comment on the forum)