The predecessor of the Faculty of Commerce, Hospitality and Tourism (FCHT) was the Pest Academy of Commerce, founded in 1857, which - expanding with the Eastern Academy of Commerce in 1899 - was the first commercial college in the Central European region and in including the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Specialists in commerce and banking were trained at the school. After World War II (in the late 1950s and early 1960s), the exponential growth of international and domestic tourism required economists well-trained in theory and practice. Thus, the educational palette of the institution was extended to include hospitality and hotel and then tourism programmes. Until 1962, the institution operated as a secondary commercial school in the building on Alkotmány Street and, in 1969, it received the rank of further education college under the name ‘College of Commerce and Hospitality’. In the mid-1970s, the training of commercial, hospitality and tourism economics teachers also started, and that has now been supplemented with vocational programmes. In addition, foreign language courses have been introduced: tourism and hotel courses in English and German, as well as commercial courses in German. In 1992, the name of the institution was changed to the ‘College of Commerce, Hospitality and Tourism’, because by this time the Department of Tourism had grown into an independent professional unit within the college.
Another change in the history of the college took place in the year 2000 when the Budapest Business School (BBS) was established as a result of the merger of the College of Finance and Accountancy, the College of International Management and Business and the College of Commerce, Hospitality and Tourism. The institution has been integrated into the BBS as an independent faculty and has remained a university faculty since the college became a university in 2016, as.
FCHT currently operates on two campuses in Budapest.
The plot of land of the building of the Alkotmány Street campus, home to the first Academy of Commerce in Central-Europe, was donated by the capital to the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce specifically for the construction of an educational institution. The building was designed by Győző Czigler (amongst other things, he also designed the Széchenyi Bath). Equipped with all the technical achievements of the age, the building has 14 classrooms, 1 physics and 1 chemistry lecture hall, 2 libraries, 2 laboratories, 2 gyms and a sports yard.
The building was extended in 1903 and then operated without major improvements in the second half of the 20th century. Finally, the attic was installed in 1989, bringing the building to its current size.
The building of the Markó Street campus in District V. was built in 1876 to the most modern standards of its time, on the basis of the imposing plans of Ferenc Kolbenheyer, for the Hungarian Royal State High School. Ferenc Kolbenheyer designed the building in 1875, with central heating, 14 classrooms, 2 libraries, a ceremonial hall, a prayer room, a gym, 3 collections, a store and staff apartments.
The Hungarian Royal State High School occupied the new building in 1876 and, in 1898, the state took over the school from the Royal Catholic Study Foundation, which in 1921 was renamed the Berzsenyi Dániel High School, which produced many persons of many excellence. In 1952, that grammar school was replaced by the Kossuth Zsuzsanna Grammar School and, between 1987 and 2002, the Faculty of Teacher Training of the Eötvös Loránd University operated there. Since 2002, it has been the centre of the Budapest Business School and then of the Budapest Business University.
The main attraction of the building, which has been a listed building since 1999, is the Neo-Renaissance Lotz Hall, decorated with rich ornamentation, which today serves as the venue for the University's high-profile events. The most valuable part of the ceremonial hall is the seven large panels by painters Károly Lotz and Mór Than dating from 1876 and evoking the atmosphere of classical antiquity, which are located on the three walls without windows.
The Gyula Lengyel Hall of Residence of the Faculty is located in the District XI., at the foot of Sas-hegy, in a quiet, peaceful area. The institution has a hall of residence for a total of almost 300 students with twenty, 4-bed rooms per floor. There is a doctor's surgery on the first floor of the Hall of Residence and modern computer rooms on the third and fourth floors. Internet access and WIFI coverage are provided in all rooms.
As we place great emphasis on conscious, broadest possible use of the sports opportunities by the students living in the dormitory, the building also has gym facilities, a sports hall and a sports yard.
For further information, please visit the FCHT page.