Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

In Debrecen, a city with a long tradition of higher education, the idea of starting a course in economics had been suggested several times before, but had never come to fruition, despite the fact that the necessary conditions already existed - the Budapest University of Economics correspondence course was carried out in Debrecen. Several members of the teaching staff and experts from the town taught on this programme. Nevertheless Debrecen's own course was only started in September 1993 after some years of preparation. The launch of the course and the provision of the necessary financial support were greatly facilitated by the university's participation in the FEFA programme which involved the support of the World Bank and the Hungarian Government.

This financial resource enabled us to provide our students with the appropriate level of education right from the start of the course. The training began with 90 full time students in a rented building in September 1993. The lack of space, especially from the second year, made the organisation of the course difficult because we did not have enough suitably-sized lecture rooms. Therefore the lectures were given in the main building of the university. There were, however, two modern computer rooms for our students in the building.

In the beginning the teaching staff came from the Institute of Social Studies, which was part of the Arts Faculty, and from other institutes at the university. The present faculty basically developed from the department of economics and in July 1996 was established as a separate institute, following on from the previously named Institute of Economics and Business Administration. Since the institute had a separate budget within the university it operated as an institute with 'faculty' status from that time.

In September 1996 the course, which had been running for three years, was relocated to a new building so that all the lectures and seminars could be held in the same place. In this building there was every opportunity to develop the course to the highest standard. It is in this building that education in economics goes on today.

On 1 January, 2000 the government of the Hungarian Republic established the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration which now functions as one of the five faculties of the university. The first students graduated in 1998. This year, 2002, saw the graduation of the fourth year's intake of full time and postgraduate MBA students and the second year's intake of part time masters students.

At the faculty a credit based educational system has been in operation since the academic year 2000/2001. Full time students have to collect 300 credit points over 10 semesters. The course is made up of a six semester basic phase with 180 credit points and a four semester specialised phase with 120 credit points. There has also been a PhD programme at the faculty since the academic year 2000/2001. The programme is entitled 'Competitiveness, Globalisation and Regionalism'.

The primary goals of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration:

• graduate and postgraduate training in economics, the aim of which is to satisfy the demand for economists in the region
• research and development activities contributing to the development of the economic and business life of the region
• establishing contacts with entrepreneurs and others involved in the region's economy
• establishing national and international links with those involved in economics and business administration training and research.

• Department of Economic Law and International Communication
• Department of Economics
• Department of Management and Marketing
• Department of Finance and Controlling
• Department of Global Economy and International Relations
• Department of Business Analysis and Business Informatics