Megalakul a Keleti Kereskedelmi Akadémia

Egyetemünk egyik közvetlen elődje a Keleti Kereskedelmi Akadémia, amelyet 1899-ben alapítottak. A fővárosi, illetve hazai nagykereskedők, majd az iparvállalatok vezetői, az ipari és a banktőke képviselői igen korán (körülbelül az 1850-es évektől) elkezdték sürgetni az ipari és a kereskedelmi élet fejlesztéséhez nélkülözhetetlen szakemberek képzését. Az ipar és a kereskedelem rohamos fejlődése képzett közgazdászokat, az államapparátus a külügyi és külkereskedelmi munkában használható szakembereket igényelt, ami elkerülhetetlenné tette egy speciális szakfőiskola, majd közgazdasági kar vagy egyetem felállítását. Erre válaszul 1891-ben indult el a Keleti Kereskedelmi Tanfolyam, majd 1899-ben ebből alakult meg – immár önálló állami főiskolaként – a Keleti Kereskedelmi Akadémia, amely a külügyi és főleg a Balkán felé irányuló külkereskedelmi szolgálatra képzett diplomás szakembereket.

Megindul a képzés a Királyi Magyar Tudományegyetemi Közgazdaságtudományi karon

Az egyetemi szintű képzés – a világ vezető országaihoz hasonlóan – 1920-ban indult meg az önállóan működő budapesti Királyi Magyar Tudományegyetemi Közgazdaságtudományi karon. A századforduló körül indult meg az a társadalmi mozgalom, amely egy önálló, és a többi egyetemmel azonos jogokat élvező közgazdaságtudományi egyetemért zajlott. Ez a küzdelem az I. világháborúig egyre erősödött. A politikai válságok, majd a világháború kitörése miatt a kérdés csak 1917-ben került ismét napirendre. A Hangya értékesítési szövetkezet, Balogh Elemér vezérigazgató javaslatára, egymillió koronás alapítványt ígért egy felállítandó közgazdasági egyetem javára. Az egyetem felállítását előkészítő bizottság a kor egyik legelismertebb közgazdászát, ifj. Erődi-Harrach Bélát kérte fel a közgazdasági egyetem feladatait, irányát és tanulmányi rendszerét felölelő tanulmány megírására. A kar létrehozásáról szóló törvényjavaslatot végül csak a világháború befejezése és a Tanácsköztársaság bukása után fogadta el a Nemzetgyűlés. Az oktatás négy szakcsoportban (Egyetemes közgazdasági, Mezőgazdasági, Kereskedelmi, valamint Konzuli és külképviseleti szak) kezdődött meg. A tanulmányi idő 8 félév volt, amely az utolsó szigorlattal (ez egyben az államvizsga is volt) zárult le. A közigazgatási és a közgazdasági és kereskedelmi szak hallgatói „okleveles közgazda”; a mezőgazdasági szak hallgatói pedig „okleveles mezőgazda” képesítést szereztek.

A Közgazdaságtudományi Kar a József Nádor Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem egyik fakultása lett

1934-ben az első magyarországi egyetemi integráció keretében a Közgazdaságtudományi Kar a József Nádor Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem egyik fakultása lett. Az önálló intézmény fennmaradása már az 1920-as évek végétől kérdéses volt. Hosszas viták után, elsősorban takarékossági megfontolásokra hivatkozva, a műegyetemi szervezetbe történő beolvasztás mellett döntöttek. Hóman Bálint kultuszminiszter 1934. március 2-án a képviselőház elé terjesztette a „Magyar Királyi József Nádor Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem szervezéséről” szóló törvényjavaslatot. Az új egyetem létrehozása a felsőoktatás strukturális átalakításának folyamatába illeszkedett. Az egyetemben összesen négy – műszaki, gazdasági és agrár – felsőoktatási intézményt egyesítettek, ezzel méreteiben és szerkezetében teljes újfajta universitas jött létre. A hallgatói létszám a következő évtizedben jelentős emelkedésnek indult, a karon már a háború előtt viszonylag nagy számban tanultak munkás- és parasztszármazású hallgatók.

kép forrása: Fortepan/BUDAPEST FŐVÁROS LEVÉLTÁRA / KLÖSZ GYÖRGY FÉNYKÉPEI

The Eastern Commercial Academy is established

One of the immediate predecessors of our University, the Eastern Commercial Academy was established in 1899. Very early on (from around the 1850s), wholesalers from the capital city and the country, and then heads of industrial corporations, as well as representatives of industrial and banking capital had started to call for the need to train professionals, who were indispensable for the development of industry and commerce. Trained economists were required as a result of a rapid development of industry and commerce, and the state apparatus required competent specialists to be used in foreign affairs and foreign trade, which made it inevitable to establish a specialised college, and then a faculty or university of economics. In response to these needs, the Eastern Commercial Course was launched in 1891 and, from this Course, the Eastern Commercial Academy was established – as an independent state college – in 1899, where degree programmes were offered with a view to enabling professionals to serve in foreign affairs and especially in foreign trade towards the Balkans.

Training at the Faculty of Economics of the Royal Hungarian University of Sciences begins

Training at university-level at the Faculty of Economics of the Royal Hungarian University of Sciences, operated as an independent institution in Budapest, began in 1920, at the same time when in leading countries across the world. At around the turn of the century, a social movement had been started for an independent university of economics to enjoy the same rights as other universities. That struggle had grown stronger and stronger until World War I. Due to political crises and then the outbreak of World War I, the issue had not been put on the agenda until 1917. The Hangya (‘Ant’) sales cooperative had, on proposal by CEO Elemér Balogh, promised to offer a foundation of one million crowns for the benefit of a university of economics to be established in future. The committee tasked to make preparations for establishing the university had invited one of the best known economists of the time, Béla Erődi-Harrach, Jr., to write a study covering the tasks, governance and teaching system of the university of economics. The bill on establishing the faculty had been accepted by the National Assembly only after the end of World War I and the fall of the Republic of Councils in Hungary. Teaching began in four major specialised groups (the study groups of Universal Economics, Agriculture, Commerce, as well as Consular and Foreign Representation). The study period was of eight semesters, ending with the last rigorosum (which was also the state examination). Students attending the study programmes in public administration, economics, or commerce obtained the qualification of “certified economist”; and those attending the study programme in agriculture obtained the qualification of “certified agronomist”.

The Faculty of Economics became one of the faculties of the Palatine Joseph University of Technology and Economics

In 1934, within the framework of the first integration of universities in Hungary, the Faculty of Economics became one of the faculties of the Palatine Joseph University of Technology and Economics. The survival of the Faculty as an independent institution had been questionable as early as from the end of the 1920s. After long debates, a decision had been made to merge it into the organisation of the University of Technology, primarily for reasons of economy. On 2nd March 1934, Minister of Culture Bálint Hóman submitted a Bill on “Organising the Hungarian Royal Palatine Joseph University of Technology and Economics” to the House of Representatives. The idea of establishing a new university fitted into the structural transformation process of higher education. A total of four higher education institutions – of technology, economics and agriculture – were united in the proposed university, and thus a completely new type of university was created in terms of size and structure. In the following decade, the number of students started to rise significantly, and a relatively large number of students from families of workers and peasants studied in the Faculty even before World War II.

Karl Marx University of Economics is established

The events of World War II had not fundamentally affected the Faculty, and significant changes had only been brought about by some political events. The founding of the Hungarian University of Economics, by then a truly independent institution, was made official under Act LVII of 1948; however, this move also involved a reorganisation of the institution in a Marxist spirit. The new University showed hardly any continuity with its predecessors: almost all of the former professors were dismissed, the departments were reorganised, courses and the teaching schedule were changed, and the training programme in public administration was discontinued. Students were forced through a strongly political admissions filter. There was also a change in the location of the University. In 1948 a decision was made to rebuild the Main Customs Palace, which had been seriously damaged during the war, for university purposes, and in 1950 the building was ready for use by students. As a symbolic end of the transformation process, the name of the university was changed to Karl Marx University of Economics in 1953. Training programmes were offered in three faculties – General Economics, Industry, and Commerce – from 1955 up until the late 1980s.

In the turmoil of the Revolution of 1956

Due to the ideological determination of the Karl Marx University of Economics, as well as their close ties to politics, lecturers (including external lecturer Imre Nagy, the President of the Revolutionary Council of Ministers, who was later executed) and students alike were receptive to changes. Several persons from the University contributed to the efforts to organise the funeral of László Rajk, a move considered to be a direct antecedent to the Revolution. On the eve of the Revolution, on 22nd October 1956, an assembly was held, with the University’s lecturers and students, and even young workers in attendance. A long and passionate debate resulted in a declaration of their demands, consisting of 22 points, which was very similar, in its structure and content, to the documents adopted at other universities. On 23rd October, classes were cancelled, and everyone was burning with the fever of the demonstration that was in the making. Students of the University of Economics marched in organised rows to the statue of General Bem, waving red flags in addition to Hungarian flags. Next day, the University building was closed, and teaching was suspended until 1st February 1957, but university citizens went to the University even during that period to get informed. At the end of October, the University’s Revolutionary Student Committee was established, as well as the University’s Battalion. Though the building had remained intact from street fights, on 4th November, Soviet soldiers advancing into the city fired a barrage of bullets at it, killing one of the students.

A pioneering university of the Eastern Bloc

The hegemony of the state party did not end at the University after the Revolution, but, as much as tight limits allowed, a slow process of raising standards and democratisation began. In this process, the election of Kálmán Szabó as Rector in 1968 represented an important milestone, as a large-scale reform was implemented under his leadership. The training structure and the content of training materials were radically transformed, the number of compulsory classes was reduced, and tasks to be completed by students on their own was increased; in addition, more emphasis was also placed on work in seminars and small groups. During this period, 16 lecturers from the University participated in longer study trips in the USA, as they benefitted from the Ford programme. The professional and pedagogical knowledge they acquired there formed an important basis for a reform. In 1970, the first college for advanced studies, the Rajk College, was established in Hungary, under the leadership of Attila Chikán, making a significant contribution to the emergence of modern knowledge about economy, economics and social sciences in Hungary, and serving as a model, and providing inspiration, for other colleges for advanced studies that were established later. As a result of these processes, the University carried out research projects in several fields of science (economic history, marketing- and management sciences, mathematical economics, finances, business economics) which were considered to be pioneering projects in the Eastern Bloc, and University students gained knowledge that was more modern and less ideologically burdened than at most universities in socialist countries.