Our lecturers attended an internationally prestigious training course on educational methodology

The internationally renowned training by IMTA and CEEMAN offered a unique opportunity for young professionals teaching in management programmes: the practical course on teaching methodology focused on case-based, discourse-based “teaching by cases” and case study writing,  which are commonly used in management programmes as well as student performance assessment and feedback methodology. 

Seven of the 28 lecturers from more than 10 countries represented Corvinus at the training held in June 2023. Bálint Blaskovics Associate Professor (Institute of Strategy and Management), Mirkó Gáti Associate Professor (Institute of Marketing and Communication), Csaba Kiss Assistant Professor (Institute of Strategy and Management), Noémi Krátki Assistant Lecturer (Institute of Operations and Decision Sciences), Róbert Marciniak Associate Professor (Institute of Strategy and Management), Bence Pistrui Assistant Lecturer (Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation) and Nóra Tarpataki Master Lecturer II (Institute of Accounting and Law). 

Miklós Stocker, Head of the Institute of Strategy and Management, drew the attention of university decision-makers to the importance of the experience provided by the course. “I attended IMTA back in 2011, and the experience I gained there, as well as the joint learning process with international colleagues, have shaped my profile as a lecturer. One of my first initiatives as Head of Institute was to ensure that our university colleagues could also go through this learning experience, as it is difficult to deliver international-level education without international-level lecturer development. I thank our HR colleagues for including this option in the lecturer development portfolio and for providing the necessary financial backing! We will send more colleagues next year and hope to continue the programme for many years to come,” said Miklós Stocker. 

“The primary objective of the training – beyond broadening the participants’ horizon and networking – is to provide technical and professional knowledge that will enable participants to take their teaching practice to a new level” – said Bálint Blaskovics‘ about the course experiences. To this end, the training was divided into two parts, with the first week focusing on the transfer and learning of general experiences and good practices by the professors, mainly through case study-based situation presentations that can be used by all lecturers, regardless of their subject area. In the second week, they applied this knowledge, which required intensive practical participation from the lecturers: they held teaching, methodological, case study writing, presentation exercises in groups and individually, as well as performed classroom simulations. “These situations have given them useful knowledge regardless of age and previous experience,” said Róbert Marciniak. 

In the practical part of the training, participants were divided into groups and could test themselves in teaching with case studies in their respective group of strategy, marketing and finance. Corvinus was represented in all the three areas and earned general recognition from the professors and other colleagues owing to their performance. “We have been enriched by the supportive feedback from our team and our own experiences,” said Nóra Tarpataki. 

Among the many practical benefits of the course, Mirkó Gáti highlighted that the teaching methodology of complex international case studies, such as Harvard’s, helped them to learn how to teach often 10-20-30 page-long cases, at a professionally high level and yet experiential way. “In addition, many topics of interest to educators were raised, such as how to deal with problem students, the methodology of student assessments, AI in education, or time management in education,” added the Associate Professor of the Institute of Marketing and Communication Sciences. 

For Noémi Krátki, the most memorable day when she was taken out of  her comfort zone was when she had to teach a specific case to the other participants. “With the help of the IMTA training, I will write my first case study this summer, which I will try to present in class in the autumn semester, and I will also submit it to the Emerald Case Study Competition,” added the assistant lecturer of the Institute of Operations and Decision Sciences. 

The trainers also highlighted the fact that the course was a great opportunity for networking. Several of the participating institutions have been invited to give guest lectures, and there are plans for reciprocal mobility plans, visits, lectures and, where appropriate, research collaboration with a number of international institutions (SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Kozminski University, Tallinn University of Technology, University of New York, Prague [UNYP]). They also appreciated the opportunity to spend these 10 days of intensive knowledge-sharing, inspiring and rich in professional experiences with colleagues from other fields of Corvinus, who did not necessarily know each other personally before.