The first project week at the Faculty of Commerce, Hospitality and Tourism took place between 16 and 20 March. The main purpose of the courses offered – most of which were open to the entire BBS community – was self-development for students. The large number of participants and lots of positive feedback show the great popularity of this new way of expanding our students’ knowledge.
Close to 100 participants attended the course titled Cultural Life after COVID-19, consisting of lectures about the problems, necessities, and changes caused by the epidemic. The lecturers – leaders in cultural institutions and event organisers – shared their own experiences about effective survival strategies and new possibilities during the situation that often seems hopelessly difficult. The professional discussions were moderated by the course’s organiser, dr. Edit Takács Vácziné. The lecturers who expanded our students’ knowledge were János Erlitz, Deputy Director General at Petőfi Literary Museum; Sarolta Laczi, Head of Imre Madách Cultural Centre; Gábor Tóth and András Borbáth, event organisers from Ship A38 and Tárogató Street Stage; and Gergely Csanda, Chief Organiser of PlayIt.
The complex interactions between environmental problems and the economy were introduced in a course on Lifecycle Analysis. Participants had a chance to practice making green decisions by thinking sustainably, innovatively, and creatively at the same time. They also learned measuring environmental impact by using the LCA method to calculate carbon footprints. The course was led by our instructor, Dr. Judit Avató Lovasné.
Interested students could participate in an English-language course encouraging research. The authenticity of the course, A Road to a Scientific Work, was guaranteed by our guests: current students and alumni shared their research topics and experiences in writing scholarly work. Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga (instructor at Hue University, School of Hospitality & Tourism, Vietnam), Rodgers Isaac Kisiangani (of Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Kenya), Bal Damla (PhD-student, Corvinus University of Budapest), and BBS students and alumni Ibrahim Asadov, Kristina Kostenko, Chang Songling and Górová Regina shared their experiences. The course was led by our instructor, Dr. Éva Erdélyi Dr. Szabóné. Participants cooperated in creating a project based on the methodology of visual-content analysis. The course endowed them with necessary competences, including statistical modelling of topic model data mining, neuro-marketing, image analysis, and coding methods. The course was concluded by presenting the well-developed results. Positive student feedback showed its success. Several people shared new research ideas and planned the first steps with the help of the instructor.
Ingmar Niemann’s lecture series, titled Global Challenges in the Coming Decade, was followed by a huge number of participants on 16 March. 160 people followed all three parts of the lecture-series (China’s approach to become the leading global nation; US foreign policy under the new Biden-administration; Europe’s position in a global changing world). Several questions were addressed to the lecturer. We were particularly delighted to see some of our former, already graduated, Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship students joining us from abroad.