Students of JPU have been looking forward to chip cards with great expectations. Since the introduction these cards have been important constituents of students' lives. The cards have promised a possibility of buying things with reduced prices, to serve as substitutes for I.D.s and bus tickets. They have proved to be efficient - many other universities have introduced them as well. But they have not been able to fulfill every expectation yet.
Chip cards were first introduced in september, 1995, in Pecs. They were initiated by the management of JPU and the Diakiroda ( Students' Office ) to cope with problems which had formerly proved to be difficult to tackle with. The new cards were to replace bus tickets, notes vouchers and student identity cards in one. Though the cards were distributed in September, preparations began much earlier. Each student had to stand in front of a camera connected to a computer, to have a picture taken, in May or June. The cards were manufactured during the summer and students received them in the fall.
The manufacturer of chip cards was the Compuworx Ltd., which is located in Pecs. The cards have been manufactured with up-to-date technology ( e.g. the picture is not placed to the card but is a part of its surface like the scripts ). They can not be forged - the picture cannot be torn off. The price of chip cards is not known, but in case of a lost card students have to pay two thousand forints. It is a very high price considering that many of the cards have broken beside the picture although not misused and that a bank card at OTP, which is made with an even more advanced technology, costs only two hundred forints.
Chip cards are small, thin plastic cards their size is 8.5 by 5.4 cm, absolutely agreeing with the size of a bank card or a student card ( Diak kartya ). The main constituent part of chip cards is an EPROM, which contains all the changeable information on the card. On one side there are a picture, the name and the address of the proprietor. Besides these, there are the data of the issuing university, the icon of OTP ( National Savings Bank - this bank has credited the price of cards ) and a bar code. The color varies according to faculties, the basic color of the cards is white and red at the BTK (Faculty of Arts ) and blue at the POTE ( Medical University ); the picture is a color picture. The other side of the cards is used for commercial purposes - advertisements of the Pepsi-Cola Co., McDonalds, etc. are put on it. The whole layout of the cards give a very pleasant look, they are eye-catching and functional. Though the cards are nice, the manufacturers have made a blunder. The pictures have been pushed vertically. They must have miscounted the length of characters beside the pictures and later had to press them so that there should be enough room for the writing.
Chip cards have been issued by the university to make students' lives and the job of the university easier. Their main purpose that had been planned in advance was to function as identity cards for students. A chip card contains all the important information and a code number needed for identification. Yet they could not totally replace old student identity cards, a student can not carry solely his or her chip card, since it does not contain indispensable information - for travelling for instance. Old student cards have a `Reduced Fares` section for bus and train travels. The new ones do not. The good old student identity cards must also be carried - many people have put the chip card into the case of the student I.D. They do not have any note of their period of validity, either. Tough, since the spring semester of 1996, little stickers have been put onto cards to distinguish between valid and expired ones. These stickers are said to be unforgable because of the special technology of production. The Kozlekedesi, Hirkozlesi es Vizugyi Miniszterium ( Ministry of Transport and Communications ) has announced to accept chip cards as official student I.D.s if more than 70% of collages and universities have got them.
Another task assigned to the new cards was to replace monthly bus tickets. There had been an advantageous agreement between the Student Office and the Kozlekedesi Vallalat ( Transport Company ) according to which students came into the possession of season tickets with reduction and the transport company gained thousands of customers. Before the introduction of chip cards the Student Office had subtracted a certain sum of money from the monthly payment of students to foot the price of these bus tickets. Now chip cards are the equivalent of bus tickets and they have to be shown on buses.
A third function assigned to cards is to work as notes vouchers. The university had formerly issued printed paper vouchers for students. These were divided to 100 forint pieces and were accepted in several bookstores. Then students were given 1500 forints per semester. Now this job is done by chip cards. Every chip card is supplied with 2000 forints when validated. There is a device for the validating process in the Student Office. One has to type in the code of his chip card and the machine adds the new sum to the former. There you can also check how much money is left on it. In the shops no money is needed for the purchase. One stands at the cash-desk and pays with the card ( if the value of the book does not exceed the money on it - it does not give credit like bank cards ). There is even 5% reduction on books if paid by a chip card. The cashier presses the code number keys on her computer and after a couple of seconds she sees the account of the buyer. Today five bookshops sell books on discount in Pecs.
Not only do bookstores give their products on sale reduced, some other shops also accept chip cards. The Csemege Osztaly of Konzum gives 5%, other shops may give discount up to 20%. The Eastern Bridge consumer club guarantees the reduction of products throughout Hungary.
So one can see that chip cards can be used for many things. They can be used as bus tickets, vouchers or identity cards. It is said to be planned in the future that they will serve as entering cards to the buildings of the university. There will be devices on doors and people can only enter if they have their cards with them. The system will inform about the number and location of people in the building. Of course this system will work only in the late hours when only a few people are in the buildings or in classrooms where there is some valuable thing. Also, the cards have been planned to function as code cards with which you can pay the tuition fee. The Compuworx Kft. offered to alter them so as to be able to do this task. The university has not accepted this offer and issued separate cards, which will be in use for only a couple of months.
However advantageous chip cards may be, they have many disadvantages. Because of the above mentioned lacks of information they can not replace student identity cards. Besides, chip cards have to be validated every semester. This is not solved properly. ( Only stickers are the means of validating. ) The old vouchers could be used in more bookstores than the new cards. This is said to be the case because bookstores have to invest in the computer terminal to use with chip card customers. The terminal is very expensive, therefor not many shops can afford to buy them. And the old voucher system was less complicated because single forints could be subtracted, with the new cards this cannot be done.
So why have chip cards at all? A lot of people have many cards to carry all the time: the old student identity card, the bank card, the student card (Diak Kartya) and who knows what else. If one has to carry the old student identity card one function of chip cards has been lost. The old voucher system was more advantageous for students, the new one is just more elegant to pay with. The only thing that is useful is that they can be used as bus tickets. It was surely a big business for the Compuworx Kft. but the introduction of chip cards should have been postponed a bit, until all the conditions have been established.
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