"We train for International Business" – The Faculty of International Management and Business welcomes those young people who would like to be active participants in shaping our international economic, business, and diplomatic relations of the future," states Dr. Katalin Csekő, Dean of the Faculty of International Management and Business at Budapest Business School. The interview also touches upon the expected developments in digitalisation and the progress made in the area of internationalisation.
Last year was a remarkably good year for the BBS Faculty of International Management and Business, with 27 percent more young people applying to the Faculty than in the previous year, according to admissions data. What could have been the reason for the success and what are you expecting for this year?
I think the success is due to our streamlined communications. We started to communicate about ourselves in a clear and targeted way, and with our strong corporate network, we strengthened and authenticated our messages. I am also confident that the students who study with us will share their experiences with the age group who are currently about to choose their career path, and even with each other - and this is the best because young people really believe what they hear from each other. Last year was truly outstanding in terms of results, which is also due in part to the fact that fewer people went abroad to study because of the coronavirus epidemic. We don’t expect that much growth this year, but I am still sure there will be growth compared to last year. BBS continues to be a stable, dominant player in the higher education market, and we will continue to communicate intensively this year, moving forward with our motto “We train for International Business”, and looking forward to welcoming young people who want to be active participants and movers and shakers in the world of international economic, business and diplomatic relations.
What exactly does the slogan "We train for International Business" mean?
In fact, it is much more than a mere slogan. This is the essence of our operations as it reflects our approach, everything we believe about ourselves and what we represent in education. After my appointment as Dean, I thoroughly acquainted myself with the curriculum network and content of the programmes offered by the Faculty. Following this, my colleagues and I began to think about how we could best connect our undergraduate and Master's programmes link by link, to form a coherent whole. Which programme, at what point, and how does it connect with the other while strengthening and then enhancing it? I can illustrate our planning through an example. If we want to implement an international business transaction — for example, if we want to set up a wholesale unit abroad — we need to examine what we will need to accomplish this. The first step is to thoroughly understand the host environment and market. As an entrepreneur, as an investor, the “terrain” must be prepared, relationships must be built, and the given business culture, decision-makers and customers living there must be understood. This knowledge is gained within the framework of our International Studies programmes in economic diplomacy and the so-called business diplomacy topics.
Secondly, once we have obtained the permits associated with “settling down or establishing ourselves”, the next question is: who will know about us? How can we make our product and service known and sought after? Thus, we supplemented our basic programme in commerce and marketing with new ways and solutions for entering international markets and for international marketing, and then we proceeded from programme to programme, from curriculum to curriculum. It was a multi-year joint reasoning process and development work with colleagues. And for now, if we look at any foreign business transaction and the steps that lead to it, it reflects exactly what we teach: “We train for International Business”. It is important to emphasize this because, while it is true that in English, the name of the Faculty reflects this perfectly, the Hungarian name currently has a somewhat restrictive interpretation in the public consciousness.
You have already mentioned that the Faculty has a strong corporate network. How do students benefit from these collaborations?
The Faculty of International Management and Business currently has two corporate departments (Robert Bosch Lean Management Corporate Department and Citi Global Business Corporate Department), and in addition, we have built a number of business partnerships in the recent past. We can be really proud of the former because they have evolved organically over the years. Bosch and Citi are now part of our everyday lives. But what does this mean for our students? Although our classroom instruction has been purposely planned to be practice-oriented, students understand with their “fine-tuned hearing” that the language of communication is somewhat different in a real corporate environment. That is why we consider it important for company professionals to participate in our programmes as guest lecturers and course leaders, and to present the implementation of a process through the example of their own company or institution. When business leaders come from the corporate world to give a lecture, students find it infinitely exciting and interesting. Their presence and what they say support and supplement the subject knowledge, and at the same time authenticating the university. Our goal is to continue to expand and enrich our international and corporate networks.
Your Faculty is increasingly successful in teaching about the undergoing digital transformation in the economy. What changes are expected in the field of digitalisation in the near future?
Incorporating the results of digitalisation will become increasingly important at the university level. The forerunner of our current Room of the Future initiative was the Smart Shop Floor virtual logistics lab in Hatvan, which is a small model of a complete logistics hub/center. When we started working on this years ago, our goal was to create an experimental, practice place where we could demonstrate technical - IT innovations and the impact of technology on management. In our logistics (virtual and real) lab, not only is it possible to make daily business processes livable, but there is also room for the dissemination of outside-the-box, bold ideas. The Room of the Future is a continuation of this idea. With the Classroom of the Future, we would like to anticipate a future where our students will no longer be familiar with corporate operations in a traditional classroom, but rather in a digital space (real-time). Such initiatives are also needed because classical factory visits are becoming increasingly difficult due to the increased protection of technologies at the corporate level. Once information becomes “sensitive goods,” “smart” training labs need to be set up externally, where business processes become visible.
Great progress has also been made in the field of internationalisation, where it is enough to think only of the new dual-degree programmes.
Recently we have launched several dual-degree programmes into the implementation process. Outstanding among these are the successful agreements with the universities of Stirling, Augsburg and Würzburg. We are also working on new contracts. I consider these collaborations to be gems, as they represent unique opportunities for our students and faculty and are also valuable elements of our university’s communications. The message is that it is worth studying at BBS because we have quality programmes that are accepted as equivalent by prestigious foreign universities. Instructors can cross-teach with the partner institutions, so if an English or German professor gives a lecture here with us, it will further positively reinforce for the students that they have chosen well and in the right place here at BBS.