The new rector of Corvinus took office in August 2021

The new rector’s plans include the transformation of the Corvinus to an elite international university, the creation of true-life education resulting in competitive skills and permanent knowledge.

The application of the recognized economist with significant experience was supported both by the University Senate and the Board of Trustees of the maintaining foundation. Előd Takáts accepted his appointment from János Áder, President of Republic, on June 24, 2021, and started his activities as a rector from August 1, 2021.

During his work as a rector, Előd Takáts would like to transform Corvinus into a university where the courses and research performance endure comparison with the Central-European competitors and any university in the world providing economic courses.

The rector’s goal is to transform Corvinus into an elite regional university so that student graduated from here can become essential players in the economy and society of Central Europe. In the rector’s opinion, one condition is to provide so true-life education to the students, which results in permanent knowledge and competitive skills. On the other hand, through the admission of really excellent students in a smaller number, the capacity of the lecturers will also be relieved for quality work.

Corvinus University admitted fewer bachelor students with a higher cut-off score for high-level, quality education this year. Thereby, the lecturers can provide quality education instead of mass training for students with exceptional qualities.

The new rector also promises change in the research culture because research activity deepens the understanding of specific fields of study and raises the quality of education at the same time. Therefore, an institutional framework must be created for which he expects the activity and help of the colleagues. As a rector, he considers it important to support the research career of students who would research in a field with suitable potential but have not yet come to publication.

Előd Takáts intends to strengthen the efforts of Corvinus towards internationalization: English-language courses, the increase of the number of international students are still a priority because Corvinus can provide an appropriate professional environment also for foreign lecturers.

Előd Takáts is himself a Corvinus alumnus; he obtained his degree in 1999 in the legal predecessor of Corvinus, in Budapest University of Economics, specialized in the finance-economic policy. He passed the stock exchange exam in 2000 and obtained a master’s degree in economics in 2002 at the Central European University. He received an MA in Economics from Princeton University in 2004, and a PhD in 2006.

He worked as a researcher at the European Central Bank, the Central Bank of Hungary, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the International Monetary Fund. Since 2009, he has been an economist and then Principal Economist at the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science since 2018. In 2019, he was appointed professor emeritus of the Corvinus University of Budapest. In 2021, the Senate of Corvinus supported his application for a professorship, and was then appointed a university professor by the President of Hungary. Dr. Előd Takáts conducts research in the joint fields of finance, macroeconomics and monetary policy. His latest areas of research are demography and the economics of climate change. His publications are available here.