Renewal is necessary, this is what the students expect

Significant changes have occurred in Corvinus University of Budapest since the one year after the transition to the foundation structure. As a result of the transition, several programs were renewed and new programs will follow in the future.

The Vice-Rector said that they had started to review the educationportfolio of the university and define the long-term goals two years ago.

New program, new approach

The faculty structure ceased at the university as of February, and itwas replaced by 12 university institutes and 3 competence enters. “The transformation was necessary to eliminate unnecessaryparallels, for example, separate faculty study offices”, while cooperationamong the educational and research units should increases iun course of theprograms and the research – highlighted Lajos Szabó.

The programs will undergo content and methodological renewal. Accordingto the Vice-Rector, this was necessary for several reasons. Firstly, upon theintroduction of the Bologna process, a strange fragmentation developed in thebusiness bachelor programs. There are too many bachelor programs, with too manyspecific programs; furthermore, the material learned in the bachelor programoften reoccur in the masters program as well. The goal is to ensure that thebachelor programs become truly foundation programs, while specialised knowledgeis taught in the masters programs. In Mr. Szabó’s opinion, it has not been easyfor students to choose the appropriate bachelor program, since at the age of 18or 19 they do not necessarily know what exactly they want to do in the future.However, in the new system less bachelor programs are launched which in turnhave broader baes and are truly integrating, and the specialisation occurs inthe second half of the program, mostly in the third year, by which time thestudents will already have sufficient knowledge and experience to be able tomake a good decision.

Secondly, the curriculums had to be transformed as well: instead of the lecturer– or more precisely, the material to be presented – the students have to be inthe focus. Namely, instead of specifying what the lecturer has to teach,the emphasis is on what the students have to complete, learn and how. 

In the opinion of the Vice-Rector, the change in the approach is in theinterest of both the students and the market, as companies, institutions andfuture workplaces expect the students to leave the university with knowledgeusable in practice as well.

The studying and development process of the student will be helped bymentors. The new system is launched in the renewed programs this year: inthe new system the lecturers mentor and support a few students, they can becontacted if anybody has a question, is stuck or has professional dilemmas, andthey will provide help in career counselling as well. This makes it mucheasier for the students, and they will have more opportunities to proceed anddevelop at their own paces.

Four programs were launched already in the renewed form this autumn

Four BCE programs were launched already in the renewed form from the autumnof 2020: 

The transformation of the International Management programaffected not only the approach but the duration of the program as well: insteadof the previous seven, the program now lasts eight semesters, and it can becompleted exclusively in English. The additional one semester is completed bythe students abroad, organised by and using the relations and cooperation BCEhas with partner universities. Therefore, the students can gain experienceabroad while studying in the programs of Corvinus.

There is a dual reason behind the reform of the Applied Economics andthe Economic Analyst programs:

The expert explained that those students who had started the programsrenewed this year earlier will not suffer any disadvantage either, since thefaculty members of the university will bring the new approach to the programsof upperclassmen as well, therefore the change of approach will be notices byall students of the program concerned.

The developments made recently to the programs represent merely thestart of a long process – Corvinus wants to review and renew all programseventually. In addition, negotiations are ongoing about the launch of newprograms, which are launched for the first time and are unique in Hungary. The DataScience in Business program is planned to be launched as a bachelorprogram, which is designated to answer especially business problems andquestions, and which will be launched only in English.

The Philosophy, Politics and Economy (PPE) bachelor program is also expected to be launched in English inthe future; this program will provide an essentially an integrated economics,political and philosophical approach to the students, and the program can becontinued in various masters programs.

Corvinus wants to launch the Political Economy program firstamong the masters programs in Hungary. The name of the program is the same asan old subject, however, its content will be completely new andstate-of-the-art; one focus will be Europe, while the other focus will beCentral Europe.

Another masters program currently under development will be the BehaviouralAnalyst program, in which the triad of organisational behaviour – consumerbehaviour – social movements will be in the focus. The InternationalDevelopment masters program is also being developed, the basic concept ofwhich was supported by the Hungarian Development Bank as well and reassured theCorvinus that it will support the program.

In the spirit of lifelong learning, the executive and specialised further training programs also have an important role.Among the MBA programs, the Executive MBA program, the MBA program providing a dual diploma with Fudan University, as well as the Full-time MBA programs are offered in English. Among the specialised furthertraining programs, the Project Management, the Energy Management, and theSupply Network and the Public Purchasing programs will soon be available tograduate students with new contents and in English.

Lajos Szabó emphasised that the goal is to provide real experience-basedknowledge at the university, and in the spirit of this, the already existingprograms are transformed and new programs are created while adapting to themarket needs as well.