Our university reached another milestone in achieving the strategic goal of becoming a responsible and sustainable university when the renewed BBS Code of Ethics came into effect in September 2018. Our Code of Ethics summarises the principles of behaviour accepted by our students, faculty, teachers, researchers, and staff in our community, with the goal of providing guidance and supporting collaboration in our daily lives. We innovated in the approach and process of the drafting of the Code, as it has been developed with the involvement of a wide cross-section of our BBS Citizens.

Below we present you with:

• why we created our Code of Ethics
• what the Code of Ethics actually is
• what the Ethics Committee does
• where you can find out more about us
• what has happened since the adoption of the Code of Ethics

Background

BBS’ vision is to become the leading applied sciences business university in the Central European region in the coming years. The key to achieving our strategic goals and our future success is a strong organizational culture characterised by a cohesive community and relationships based on trust and co-operation, the foundation of which is ethical behaviour. In the spirit of this, our Code of Ethics, which was originally established in 2004, was renewed in 2018 along with the rules of procedure of the Ethics Committee. The documents were adopted by the University Senate on June 29th, 2018, and came into effect on September 1st, 2018.

About the Code of Ethics

Our Code of Ethics summarises the principles of behaviour accepted by the students, faculty, researchers, and employees in our community, with the goal of providing guidance and supporting collaboration in our daily lives. We have innovated in the approach and process of drafting the Code, as it is has been elaborated with the involvement of a wide range of our BBS Citizens. The Code of Ethics applies equally to all Citizens of the University, though it may not regulate all possible situations. The Code is rather a guideline for potential ethical dilemmas that could arise in everyday life. In addition to the main principles, the Code highlights important information, provides easy-to-understand practical examples in the form of questions and answers, and provides additional information on a given topic.

About the Ethics Committee 

If you feel that someone has acted unethically toward you or toward someone else, or you run into an ethical dilemma, feel free to contact the Ethics Committee!

The role of the Ethics Committee is to provide answers to ethical issues that arise, to help resolve ethical dilemmas, to decide on ethical reviews, or whether there has been a breach of the Code of Ethics. The Committee will also propose consequences and preventive measures. It is also very important for the Committee to communicate continuously and transparently, as the aim is to be able to talk openly about ethical dilemmas and issues in our community and to defend ourselves and the rights of others. The Committee consists of a chairman and three members, all representing different departments. The gender ratio is equal among the members. The members of the Ethics Committee are appointed by the Rector of the University with the consent of the Chancellor, for a 3-year term, while the student representative is appointed for one year.

Members of the Ethics Committee:

Dr habil. Krisztina Szegedi (chairman)

Dr Gábor Pázsitka

Dr István Auer

Patrik Gábor Buzár

Samarjai-Békésy Bettina Angéla is the administrator of the Ethics Committee.

Rules of Procedure of the Ethics Committee

The Rules of Procedure of the BBS Ethics Committee contain the principles and rules for the operation of the Ethics Committee and for answering ethical questions and investigating ethical cases. It supplements other BBS regulations. These procedures help us to understand exactly what to do if we experience unethical behaviour, how the ethical process is conducted, or what rules apply to the person reporting the infraction or to the person being reported. The Code of Ethics is a simple and straightforward document that can be found in the attached document library.

Annual Report

Transparency, the development of an ethical organizational culture and the prevention of future ethical problems are important to us, which is why every year, always anonymously, we publish our report on the lessons of the past, summarizing what has happened in the preceding year. The main task of the first year was to draw attention to the Code of Ethics and its principles, in as many places and forms as possible. Among other things, we produced a short video, played a game with the students in the freshman camp, discussed our common values in a quiz, and cooked together and took photos together at the BBS Day. We did all this to encourage everyone to learn about the Code of Ethics. We have also prepared all of our materials in English to make them available to our international students. In the first year, 9 inquiries were received by the Ethics Committee in the form of questions or reports.

Ethical Resolutions

In response to experience and dilemmas that may arise, the Ethics Committee can formulate a general position on the topics that have become the most focused in a given period, since the goal is to be able to talk openly about ethical dilemmas and issues in our community and to protect our rights and those of others. The cases handled in the first year highlighted the need for a more detailed description of ethical expectations regarding communication and publishing activities in order for them to be interpreted uniformly by all BBS citizens. Accordingly, the Committee has prepared The BBS community communication and publication principles resolution.