Here you can learn what you want: a talent programme launched at Corvinus

Márton Barta, Head of Strategy at Corvinus University and Head of the Talent Management Centre, and leaders of student associations, including Maghmoumah Mohamed, President of the Office of Self-motivated  Groups (ÖCSI), Eszter Kaló, student leader of Rajk College for Advanced Studies, and Róbert Litkei, President of Studium Generale (SG), were interviewed by telex. 

Why did you decide to launch the Talent Programme at the University? 

Márton Barta: The University has been involved in talent management for decades, with colleges for advanced studies and student associations being a key part of this, however, the Students’ Scientific Association (TDK) movement and case study competitions are also very important at Corvinus. These are very diverse but also interlinked activities. We thought that it would be worthwhile to take the organisation of extra-curricular activities at the University to the next level and systematize it. The aim of the programme is to give a new impetus to and integrate the existing decades-old world of colleges for advanced studies and student associations, while also defining new types of activities. 

It is important to emphasise that the autonomy and sovereignty of student communities is absolutely key, a treasure that must be preserved, because if a community has a sense of ownership over its destiny, enormous energy will be released. Student associations continue to organise their own lives, and they can get involved in the Talent Programme through grant funds to help them become more innovative, open and international. We are proud that Corvinus has 7 colleges for advanced studies and more than 50 student associations, involving thousands of students. 

How can students get involved? 

Márton Barta: The Programme is open to all students and is entirely based on volunteering and experimentation. You do not need to complete all eight modules, as each one of them is valid and valuable in its own right. The goal is not to have a tight, over-bureaucratised system, but that people participate in it out of their own motivation and for the joy of learning and self-improvement. The Programme is about the joy of thinking and doing, but of course it is also about taking the activities seriously, about getting students to giving it their all – and about making them see that what they are doing makes sense. Moreover, students may start it at any time, even when attending a master study programme. The Programme is still in development, with a pilot phase underway, and it will be launched, under a system being built gradually, in the next academic year. 

How can a first-year student come across the Talent Programme in September this year? 

Márton Barta: When students enrol, they will be informed about the opportunities of the Programme, among others. Navigator is the University’s data-driven academic and career planning service to provide students with personalised help in planning their academic life, tracking their personal development, and consciously shaping their career paths. Based on a personality test completed by a student, the system creates a personality profile, showing the student’s strongest competences and the career paths that match them. The Navigator also assists students in the Talent Programme, offering courses and other activities, as well as mentoring. 

What was the idea behind the Programme? 

Márton Barta: A competence-based approach was used to define the modules. As a starting point, we made a list of the skills and competences needed to enable students to have a successful professional career in the future and to live a responsible life in the community. Most of these skills and competences are provided by the University’s bachelor and master programmes, but some of them, by their very nature, are worth developing in extra-curricular settings. Such skills include, for example community and leadership skills, which is also the name of a module in the Programme. We believe that students can gather experiences in those skills as a member or leader of a college for advanced studies or a student association. 

What other modules are offered under the Programme? 

Márton Barta: In total, eight modules are available under the Programme. These include: 

• The module on Digital Technology, where training programmes are naturally built around artificial intelligence, data analysis and data visualisation. 

• In connection with the Creativity and Storytelling module we have built a Makerspace – a creative workshop that inspires creativity, which is available at many universities abroad. Here, students can create things by using 3D printers, laser cutters, sewing machines, a programmer’s corner and other tools in guided groups at Corvinus’ Gellért Campus that was inaugurated this year. There is also a well-equipped media studio, where podcasts and videos can be recorded. 

The module called Academic Immersion and Broad Intellectual Horizon, building on the students’ scientific association movement, focuses on achieving scientific results, both individually and in small groups, and on their meaningful transfer to the general public, as well as on interdisciplinary thinking. 

The module called Entrepreneurship covers everything from coming up with good ideas to starting your own business. 

The Community and Leadership Skills module, mentioned before, essentially brings in the Programme the world of student associations and colleges for advanced studies. 

The Social Responsibility and Service module, in addition to focusing on volunteering, basically takes the challenges of NGOs into the education, under coordination by the organisational unit of the Corvinus Science Shop, and students can work on those challenges; that module has earned a UN Education Award. 

The Complex Business Problem Solving module typically covers the methodology and application of Corvinus’ traditionally strong case study competitions. 

The Self-Management module focuses on self-awareness, learning strategies, goals-based self-development, and, increasingly important in today’s world, self-communication. 

As you can see, it is a rather complex and diverse scheme, which aims to build on the ‘basic’ education and existing organisations. At the same time, members of student associations can also get integrated into the Talent Programme individually, for example, if a student involved in SG has created a project and has been a leader in the association, through these activities, he or she has also acquired the competences defined in the module. 

Are there other associations involved in the Programme apart from the three ones represented here?

Márton Barta: Yes, activities of all accredited student associations are part of the Programme. In the spring, there was a call for applications for student associations and another one for a colleges for advanced studies, and the winning programmes will be implemented starting from the next academic year. For the purposes of the current interview, we have selected these three associations because SG and ÖCSI fulfil very special functions at the University, and we have invited Rajk as the longest-established association in the world of colleges for advanced studies. 

Let’s start with one of the student associations fulfilling a special function. What does Studium Generale (SG) do? 

Róbert Litkei: As the official secondary school leaving exam  Preparatory Programme of Corvinus University, the SG’s core mission is to create equal opportunities in education and to promote catching up. During the year, we offer free maths, history and economics lessons in Building C of Corvinus University on Saturdays, as preparatory sessions for secondary school leaving examinations. This is where students expected to apply to Corvinus can meet Corvinus students and experience the environment we learn in. In addition, we offer students a number of optional activities. We also hold mock secondary school leaving exams, an activity we have been able to expand nationwide with the help of the Talent Programme. This activity involves a series of tests that covers roughly what students may expect to see during the actual examinations in May. 

I my view, student associations and also colleges for advanced studies function as if a playground before adult life starts, where you can try yourself out in different hierarchical roles, such as a middle manager and as a senior manager. If you make any mistakes and thus you can’t implement your programme, you can ask for feedback, work on it, and do it all in a secure environment. 

How is the Rajk College for Advanced Studies linked to the Talent Programme? 

Eszter Kaló: There are seven colleges for advanced studies at Corvinus, which operate under a broadly similar model, building on the values of professionalism, community, and social responsibility, and in an autonomous way. It means that we can decide what we learn and what we consider to be relevant knowledge. 

The Talent Programme flows naturally into our lives, and that’s the beauty of it. In our own association, we have tried to think of things to foster our operation and to put it on a more innovative path, and then to ask support for that purpose under the Programme. 

What does ÖCSI do? 

Maghmoumah Mohamed, Mohi: ÖCSI is special because we are not a field-specific  student association, instead we are responsible for integrating freshers into University life. Our main event is the week-long freshers’ camp in August, where freshers are divided into groups of 25-30, with instructors. Strangers come to the camp and the aim is to help them make friends by the end of the camp. In recent years, we have also been working to make our first-year students more cohesive, not only at study programme- or group-level, but also at year-level. 

In the autumn, we also help them with useful advice and administration, and we have two big events, the Freshers’ Boat and the Freshers’ Ball, both held in the the University building. At each event, the main University building is magically transformed into a festival venue for one night. In such a community, you can learn soft skills, such as taking responsibility, communicating assertively with each other, or standing up in front of an audience, which will add character to your personality. 

Let’s look at admission procedures. How is the SG’s admission process carried out, is it difficult to get in? 

Róbert Litkei: We usually admit new members in the autumn, it’s a three-week process, with smaller get-to-know-you programmes, and then we have a bigger camp in Cegléd. Here, we devote two days to organise entrance tests for applicants in the subjects we teach, followed by the “hour of judgement”, when we select the 50 people considered right for us. In total, there are 184 of us. 

How is the same process at the Rajk College for Advanced Studies? 

Eszter Kaló: Admissions start at the end of the first year, at the end of May, but before that we promote the Rajk College for Advanced Studies at the University all year round. First, we have a written round – this year, for example, we asked the question, among other things, of what applicants would research if they had access to all relevant data – and then we invite all applicants to take an oral exam. This is followed by a half-hour interview in front of an admissions committee of six selected members of the Rajk College and the director. Each year, 18-23 people are admitted; and freshers and sophomores may apply. Presently, there are about 100 of us in the Rajk. 

What about ÖCSI, what do you have to do to get in? 

Maghmoumah Mohamed, Mohi: We don’t think there are qualities for us to use for screening people for their aptitude to organise and run a freshers’ camp. In the spring, we have a two-month mentoring programme, during which we prepare a model of the entire freshers’ camp, starting from the organisation through to the camp, and then the students who have participated in that programme may become members. 

Coming back to the Talent Programme, one of its declared aims is to internationalise the University and to involve foreign students even more in University life. How is all this reflected at Corvinus now? 

Márton Barta: Corvinus is already a very international University even now, with 20 percent of its students coming from abroad, and we have an increasing number of international ólecturer-researcher colleagues. And from now on, one of the most important tasks of the University is to create a truly international environment for all of its citizens, also in their daily lives. In that respect, we still have a lot of work to do, but we are constantly improving. Corvinus is officially bilingual, e.g. Senate meetings are held in English, but to give an example closer to the Talent Programme, preparation processes for TDK (Students’ Scientific Association) competitions are bilingual in part, or we can mention the student associations for international students. In addition, from 1 August this year, Corvinus will have a rector from abroad in the person of Belgian economist Bruno van Pottelsberghe, which will give a new impetus to internationalisation. 

source: telex.hu