Among the members of the Academic Advisory Board is Professor Frédérique Vidal, a cell biologist who served as France’s Minister of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation from 2017 to 2022. Tawfik Jelassi, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, is a member of the Corporate Council. 

According to Corvinus’s new strategy, the university aims to strengthen its international integration, improve academic excellence, and become a relevant, innovative, and proactive center of education and research in the long term. This strategy is supported by two international advisory boards, whose members were appointed by Bruno van Pottelsberghe, Corvinus’s rector since last year. “Since we want to become an outstanding university on the international stage, the support of these two boards is indispensable. Their members have gained significant experience in the world’s leading scientific and business circles. During their in-person meeting this year, their advice will contribute to implementing Corvinus’s new strategy,” welcomed rector Bruno van Pottelsberghe the annual event of the two advisory boards. 

Exceptional Experience and Expertise Behind the Scenes 

One of these bodies is the International Advisory Board (IAB), a renewed nine-member academic board whose mission is to connect Corvinus with the global academic community. It fulfills its role primarily by conveying the latest academic trends, encouraging interdisciplinary collaborations, and sharing internationally recognized expertise. The board is chaired by Gunther Friedl, former dean of the Faculty of Business Administration at the Technical University of Munich and an experienced corporate consultant. Members include renowned professors from Cornell, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Bogotá, and Renmin University in Beijing, as well as a rector from a Kazakh university, a former French education minister, and the co-president of the Club of Rome — underscoring the exceptional international strength of the group. 

The new, fourteen-member Corporate Council is called the International Corporate and Institutional Council (ICIC, or IC2). Its role is to bridge academia, society, and the business sector so that Corvinus can help shape the future of education and work. Its members support the university with labor market insight, business experience, and expertise, helping Corvinus nurture international talents who succeed in a dynamically changing global environment. The council is chaired by Melanie Seymour, BlackRock’s global head of client experience. Members include business leaders from Egypt, Georgia, and Croatia, as well as top domestic leaders from Corvinus’s strategic corporate partners such as MOL, OTP Bank, MBH Bank, and KPMG, many of whom have substantial international careers. 

First Meeting Takes Place in Budapest 

The two boards complement each other and work closely together, as corporate and institutional practices are tightly linked with the university’s teaching and research activities. This year’s joint meeting will be held in Budapest on May 29 and 30, including their in-person sessions and the Corvinus Business & Society Summit, where they will meet university leadership and key partners. 

Further information about the members of the IAB can be found here, and about the IC2 members here.