The university was established by act of parliament in 1949. The university is the successor of the University of Mining and Metallurgy of Selmecbánya (established in 1735)—thus adopting its school traditions as well[1]—which was one of the first schools under non-ecclesiastical control in the Habsburg Empire. After the Ausgleich the name of the Selmecbánya university was changed to Royal Hungarian Academy of Mining and Forestry.