Corvinus succeeded in university model change – first cycle of renewal is completed
2022-07-14 11:21:16The first phase of the renewal of Corvinus University of Budapest, the first university in Hungary to change its maintenance model, has been successfully completed. A twenty-point list summarises the main achievements of the institution over the past three years.
Dominant market position, internationalisation of education and international visibility
- We have introduced the Corvinus Scholarship, that still provides free tuition to the majority of our students. Last year, 74% of students in full-time Bachelor courses and 85% in Master’s courses benefited from this. We have increased the maximum amount of the study grant to HUF 70, 000, which is twice the state scholarship ceiling. Last year we spent a total of almost HUF 700 million on this. We have introduced the Corvinus Doctoral Scholarship, so the best performing doctoral students can receive a total of 280 thousand HUF per month. We have abolished the foreign language contribution, so students who have been awarded a Corvinus Scholarship can study in English free of charge.
- We have renewed more than 10 of our sections. The curriculum and methodology have been adapted to market needs. Our bilingual portfolio is based on generalist bachelor’s degrees and specialised master’s degrees.
- In 2023 autumn we will launch two English-language bachelor’s degree programmes, which are unique not only in Hungary but also in the Central European region: Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) and Data Science in Business, and a Master’s degree: Political economy.
- We have significantly increased the number of our English programmes. More than half of our undergraduate courses are given in English only or in English too, and almost two-thirds of our masters courses are available in English or English too.
- We offer more than 10 dual degree programmes, where students can study in a partner institution abroad while graduating in Corvinus too, earning two degrees in one go.
- We have developed a complex quality control system for our teaching activities.
- Together with our lecturers and psychologists, we have developed our own digital career guidance decision support system for our students, it is called the Navigator.
- We have launched the Illyés Gyula Talent Support Programme. The one-year intensive English and maths course will also give a chance to talented young people who have not passed for admission due to their disadvantaged situation.
- In 2021, we tripled the number of research publications in the most prestigious scholarly journals (Q1 ranking), making a significant step towards Corvinus becoming the leading institution in Central Europe in the field of economics and social sciences in international higher education rankings by 2030.
- We have created the Central European Network of Universities (CENU). The aim of the network is to strengthen cooperation between the best universities/faculties in the Central European countries, thus making the educational innovations and research of the Central European region internationally more visible.
- In addition to the existing international accreditations (AMBA, EFMD Accredited, BSIS Label, EAPAA), this year we also competed for the AACSB accreditation (Association for Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), which may place Corvinus among the top 900 business schools in the world.
Operational excellence and self-sustainability
12. The Maecenas Universitatis Corvini Foundation, which maintains the University, owns more than 80 million MOL shares and 18 million Richter shares, with a total value of around HUF 300 billion depending on exchange rate fluctuations. We have taken ownership ofthe real estate portfolio owned by the university, with a market value of almost HUF 80 billion, replacing the previous building in a very unfavourable PPP construction.
13. We created the University’s Institutional Development Plan til 2030, as well as completely renewed the University’s management team and professionalised the institutional management structure.
14. We spend an average of HUF 2-3 billion per year on investments and improvements, and we will keep it that way in the long term.
15. With HUF 15 billion, the Maecenas Universitatis Corvini Foundation, as maintainer of the University, is building a unique education and innovation centre in the Ménesi Street Campus , designed by a community planning approach. The target delivery date is mid-2023, with ¾ of the budget provided by state support and 1/4 by foundation sources.
16. We increased the University’s annual budget by almost 10 billion forints.
17. We have increased staff costs from EUR 8 billion to EUR 13 billion. Over three years, we have increased the base salary by an average of more than 70 percent, almost tripled the non-wage benefits and introduced a performance-related annual bonus. The overall increase in income is therefore almost 50 percent.
18. We were the first in Hungary to introduce the academic career model: with a predictable career- and quality-focused performance.
19. We have digitised student administration, so most processes can be initiated online. We have launched the My Corvinus app, which was last year’s App of the Year, and built a new, student-friendly, innovative and welcoming coworking space.
20. We have established the Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability Hub (ERS Hub) to support the alignment of the University’s ethics, social responsibility and sustainability initiatives and have evolved sustainability a priority in our investments and operations. As a result of this, our administration is already 95 per cent paperless, and our goal in the redevelopment of the Ménesi Street Campus is to become the first higher education institution to achieve LEED Gold certification, as a global symbol of sustainability.