In the early 1990s, the then independent College of Commerce and Hospitality started to offer English and German language courses in the two main areas of its undergraduate programs, namely tourism and catering, and commerce and marketing, in addition to the Hungarian courses. This laid the foundations for the gradual enrolment of foreign students in our institution, whose share has now reached 10-15%.
Erasmus+ Scholarship Program
In the framework of Erasmus+ student mobility we host nearly a hundred foreign students from our 72 partner universities annually, and we also support Hungarian students to travel to our partner universities for similar purposes, either through Erasmus+ or other programs such as Campus Mundi.
Stipendium Hungaricum (SH) Scholarship Program
We also accept a significant number of full-time students from foreign countries each year, both on a self-funded basis and through the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship program established by the Hungarian Government. Most of these students come from developing countries, around 200 per year, and study in our undergraduate programs and our English-language Master's program in Tourism Management, which was launched in 2014.
Hungarian Diaspora Scholarship and the Scholarship Programme for Christian Young People
We host foreign students every year for the full length of the programs for the Hungarian Diaspora Scholarship and for the Scholarship Programme for Christian Young People.
Full-fee Paying Programs
Full-fee paying programs are available for the entire length of studies in Commerce and Marketing and for the Bachelor’s programs in Tourism and Hospitality. Students also have the opportunity to continue their studies on the Tourism Management Master's program.
To facilitate the integration of our foreign students, we have developed a well-functioning mentoring system, supported by our senior students and the student organisations operating on campus.
Among our international partner institutions, those higher education institutions with which our faculty has dual degree agreements are of particular importance. These are:
- the University of Asturias, Oviedo (Spain);
- Hof University of Applied Sciences (Germany);
- Kempten, Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg Villingen-Schwenningen (Germany).
Our international relations have now been extended to the sphere of scientific cooperation as well. An increasing number of our teaching and research staff participate in international research programs and scientific events abroad, and our foreign students have been participating in the work of the Student Research Society for many years now.
In 2016, we were awarded the title of University of Applied Sciences. An integral part of the implementation of BBU's, and within it our Faculty’s development and innovation strategy, is the advancement of the internationalisation process. Though this represents a major challenge, it also provides future opportunities as well as a lot of various tasks. These include the process of preparing for international accreditation in line with the requirements of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the need to make better use of the opportunities offered by our membership in the Network of International Business Schools (NIBS). The international recognition of our faculty was reinforced by the accreditation of two specialisations of our Bachelor's program in Tourism and Catering and our Master's program in Tourism Management respectively by the British Institute of Hospitality in 2016.
The SUCCESS Summer University at BBU, which is held every year and is hosted, organised, and run by our Faculty, serves to reinforce our international relations. Success Summer School Budapest Facebook page.
In addition to its university partners, FCHT maintains intensive relations with a number of foreign companies and professional organisations, through which we primarily enhance the practice-oriented nature of our training. Thanks to these partners, our students now have the opportunity to complete their internships in a number of workplaces abroad. In addition, as part of our cooperation, we regularly host prestigious professional events, and our students and lecturers can also take part in events and professional competitions abroad. These include, but are not limited to, the French professional organisation Ethic Ocean with which we have been co-organising the international cookery competition named after the renowned French chef Olivier Roellinger for several years, and which has been hosted by the Faculty since 2018.
Our partners in the US provide internships for dozens of students each year in high-end hotels in different parts of the US, most notably The Broadmoor - Sea Island Company LLC and the Resort Leaders program.
As part of our agreement with the Rajabhat University Consortium, 10-12 of our students spend their internships in hotels in Thailand each year, while at the same time Thai students have the opportunity to complete their internship commitments in top-class hotels in Budapest.
Guest lecturing, participation in professional and scientific events and projects
Our faculty is also keen to provide opportunities for our lecturers to gain experiences as visiting lecturers abroad, and to participate in international conferences, training courses, as well as international research and projects. Due to travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, only a few mobility opportunities awarded for the period from 1 December 2019 to 30 September 2020 were realized.
BBU Oriental Business and Innovation Office (OBIC) Scholarships
Several faculty members of FCHT have already had the opportunity to participate in educational-research mobility outside Europe, mainly at universities in East and Southeast Asia through grants from the BBU Oriental Business and Innovation Office (OBIC).
Erasmus+ staff training mobility
In order to meet the increased quality needs of our foreign language courses, we support the development of the foreign language skills of our lecturers, researchers and administrative staff, and the expansion of their international experience. The Erasmus+ mobility scheme for teachers and staff offers a good opportunity to do this, and an increasing number of our staff are taking advantage of it. Our faculty has also been receiving a number of foreign researchers and lecturers annually.
Within the framework of Erasmus+, not only our students and lecturers but also the staff of our faculty performing administrative tasks have the opportunity to gain experience abroad, which is the purpose of the Erasmus+ staff mobility program.
Strategic cooperation projects
Strategic cooperation projects with our partner institutions are also being developed. More than 800 students from 14 universities took part in the ICCAGE project, which ran from 2015 to 2017 and was awarded the prestigious prize for the best higher education project of the year in the Czech Republic in 2018. The following international strategic projects are in progress and have been created together with academics from Czech, Finnish, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and Slovak partner universities:
- INCOLLAB (2019-2021): The project seeks to expand collaboration opportunities for colleagues who teach languages for specific purposes and other vocational subjects. Details on the Course development projects page.
- CORALL (2019-2022): The project focuses on developing autonomous learning opportunities for students. Details on the Course development projects page.
- BrandY (2020-2023): The goal of the project is to create an innovative, experience-based learning module and integrate it into higher education course offerings in the field of brand management. Details on the Course development projects page.
Contact us
- Office: 1054 Budapest, Alkotmány utca 9-11.
- Phone: +36 1 374-6200
- E-mail: pal.agnes@uni-bge.hu