Innovative knowledge sharing on digital transformation with Europe’s leading university

Members of the delegation, Dr. Bruno Hensler, Director of Administration, Dr. David Schneeberger, General Secretary, Hary Rotter, Chief information Officer, and Dr. Jürg Wicki-Breitinger, Director of Human Resources, came to Budapest to study the digitalization experiences of Corvinus and other leading Hungarian universities.  

The highlight of the visit was a full-day workshop on Friday. In the morning session, György Drótos, Associate Professor, the main organizer of the event made the opening and gave a short introductory lecture. Then Péter Major, Head of Student Services, summarized the process and results of digital initiatives from the past four years, with special emphasis on new applications supporting students and lecturers (Navigator, Corvinus App, Teaching Excellence). Afterwards, Ákos Domahidi, Chancellor of Corvinus University, gave an overview on the institutional and financial conditions under which the digital transformation of Corvinus takes place. The morning program was closed by Tünde Oláh, who spoke about the details of the SAP Success Factors implementation on behalf of the HR organization.  

The afternoon session was dedicated to the leaders directly responsible for IT and digitalization. First, Tibor Sopronyi, Head of the IT, gave a presentation on the IT infrastructure of Corvinus and its operation. Then, a panel discussion started with the moderation of Péter Fehér, Vice-President for International Relations, to which responsible leaders from other Hungarian universities has also joined. Sára Csillag, Vice-Rector for Academic Development at the Budapest Business University, Zoltán József Király, Director of the IT Service Centre at the University of Debrecen, Gábor Marton, Head of IT at the University of Pannonia, and Árpád Tóth, Financial Manager of the University of Széchenyi participated in the conversation. 

Besides listening to and providing valuable remarks on the Hungarian experience, our Swiss guests also openly shared their achievements and dilemmas. The latter included how to implement a large-scale digital transformation program in a highly decentralized academic organization like that of HSG, and how to provide effective support to and control over such revolutionary technologies as metaverse or generative AI.  

More information: György Drótos, Institute of Strategy and Management (gyorgy.drotos@uni-corvinus.hu) 

Photo: Some participants of the Corvinus-St. Gallen digitalization benchmarking workshop  

From left to right Gábor Marton, Head of IT (University of Pannonia), Zoltán József Király, Director of the IT Service Centre (University of Debrecen), Tibor Sopronyi, Head of IT and György Drótos, Associate Professor (Corvinus), Hary Rotter, Chief information Officer, Dr. Bruno Hensler, Director of Administration, Dr. Jürg Wicki-Breitinger, Director of Human Resources. and Dr. David Schneeberger, General Secretary (University of St. Gallen)