East Meets West: Will Hungary’s Corvinus University Become A Magnet For International Talent?

Six months into his appointment as rector and president of Corvinus University of Budapest, Bruno van Pottelsberghe has a clear vision for the university’s future: Bring the world to Corvinus and bring Corvinus to the world.

“We want to show that coming to Budapest and Hungary is exciting,” he tells P&Q. “You have to be bold to do it. Budapest isn’t yet known internationally for education the way London, Paris, or New York might be, but we believe we have a serious opportunity to become one of these major education hubs.”

Corvinus University is a private research institution primarily focused on business administration, economics, and the social sciences, known for its strength in quants and analytics. It enrolls about 9,600 students per year – mostly Hungarian, but it has made courting more top international students a strategic priority.
At the heart of this ambition is the university’s unique location, where East meets West both geographically and intellectually.

Q&A WITH BRUNO VAN POTTELSBERGHE

van Pottelsberghe is a quant himself with extensive international experience. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), conducting research in Japan and at Columbia University. He served as a consultant for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris and was Chief Economist at the European Patent Office in Munich.

He previously served two nonconcurrent terms as dean of ULB’s Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, where he was a co-founder and director of QTEM (Quantitative Techniques for Economics and Management). The Master’s Program offered at 21 top QTEM business schools world wide bridges the gap between quants and poets, teaching students to translate data analysis into compelling stories used to make strategic business decisions.

Poets&Quants recently sat down with Pottelsberghe to talk about his international ambitions, his vision for business education in the AI era, and how Corvinus plans to compete on the global stage. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

You were appointed as the president and rector of Corvinus University six months ago. What interested you in the position?

I spent my youth in Africa, and I also lived in Japan and Germany. I love multiculturality, as does my wife. So, it was a nice opportunity for us to come to Hungary, discover a new culture, and join an excellent institution. What convinced me to join Corvinus was actually its similarities with Solvay. Corvinus is an elite institution that attracts students who rank among the top 10 percent from Hungarian secondary schools. It is a magnet for highly talented students.

I saw a lot of similarities with Solvay, but, as everywhere, when you’re a national champion – and Corvinus is clearly number one based on the grades from national exams – you recruit top-quality students. And when you’re a national champion, you enter the European League. That’s exactly the context in which I was appointed. Corvinus always had a strong focus on local quality, but not enough emphasis on the international dimension, and that’s where I come in.

The idea now is to stay firmly rooted in Hungary but with an international reach. That means attracting international talent at every level – faculty, students, and operations – similar in quality to our domestic talent. It also means securing all international accreditations, entering global rankings, and developing our research activities. I myself have always been a very active researcher, so part of my role is to accelerate research activity at the university.

Speaking of international students, what is the value proposition for international students to come to Corvinus? What do you offer them?

Very good question. We’re actually finalizing our strategic plan right now, so we’re working specifically on our unique selling proposition on why it’s worth it for international students to come to Corvinus.

There are historical reasons students choose Corvinus, as well as some new ones we’re developing. Historically, the first reason is Budapest itself. It’s a fantastic, cosmopolitan city, extremely safe, very young, with an excellent atmosphere. It has been ranked several times among the top five best cities globally for students. But that’s about Budapest rather than Corvinus specifically.

The second reason relates to the geopolitical context of the region as well as our expertise. We’re positioned between East and West, and our faculty have deep expertise in political science and international relations, with strong understanding of both regions. We attract students from the East and from the West, and it’s valuable to be in an environment with such rich geopolitical interactions and insights. We have students from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam, China, but also from Norway, Germany, Egypt, and so on.

The third reason is our strong legacy in analytical and quantitative techniques. These are increasingly important because of the growing impact of artificial intelligence on our lives and our ability to leverage it. They’re also crucial in sustainability and sustainable development goals, where managing complex, multidisciplinary challenges is key. Our students are particularly well-equipped because we teach extensively in these areas.

Corvinus is multidisciplinary. We don’t only focus on business; we also have economics, information systems, mathematics for business, international relations, and communication. This multidisciplinary depth is one of our real strengths and a strong reason to join us.

Another important factor is our corporate connections. In Hungary, we are probably the most proactive university in terms of industry relationships. We have around 17 or 18 strategic partnerships with large Hungarian companies, and now we are beginning to expand these partnerships internationally. We’re also extremely well-connected internationally, with about 250 exchange partners and several double-degree programs, and we plan to further develop these double degrees. We are part of networks like CEMS (Community of European Management Schools) and PIM (Partnership in International Management), so students know they’ll have significant opportunities for additional international exposure at high-quality partner universities around the world.

Finally, we are well-ranked. In Hungary, there’s no doubt we’re the best in economics and management, and we’re committed to continuous improvement in accreditation and rankings. In short, when students join us, they experience high-quality teaching in a talented classroom environment. One of our most important objectives now is to further enhance our ability to attract talented students and faculty. We’ll invest significantly in building this international talent pool, whether Hungarian or foreign-born, as long as they have an international reach, a strong network, and talent in both research and teaching.

Can you give an overview of the business programs you offer? What MBA programs do you have?

The Executive MBA is becoming pretty good, although it’s still quite local. But the real flagship program is our Master of International Management and Leadership. This is a very good program.

At the bachelor’s level, we have around 10 programs, but I’d say the most interesting and successful are Business and Management, International Business Management, Data Science in Business and Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, which is developing quickly. These are all delivered in English, and in terms of attractiveness, they’re quite successful.

For master’s degrees, we offer around 20 Master of Science programs, which can be either one or two years. The vast majority are taught in English. Among these, we have a brand-new program in Social Data Science, which applies data science to management, economics, and social analysis. We also have new master’s programs in Sustainability and Management, and Entrepreneurship. But again, I’d say our flagship master’s is really the one in International Management and Leadership.

Some programs are quite technical, like Mathematics for Insurance and Finance. It’s heavily specialized and quantitative, and though smaller, it has a very strong impact.

If I had to identify the real flagship programs – those where we see both top-quality education and significant international interest – they would be our Master of International Management and Leadership, Social Data Science, International Economy and Business, and our doctoral programs. We currently have four doctoral programs, and they’re growing in popularity and interest.

This represents our historical strength, but looking to the future, we also want to expand into executive education, including postgraduate and company-specific programs. That will be a significant focus in our strategy moving forward.

Given the current situation in the United States, which may be making it less attractive to international students, is there an opportunity for Corvinus and other European schools?

Indeed, the United States is a strong magnet for international students. The current geopolitical tensions – and we also have some tensions here in Hungary – may impact that. But our aim is to remain fully independent from these issues. Our role is simply to train students and conduct research. I’m not sure if our growth is directly connected to what’s happening in the U.S., but we have indeed started communicating internationally about our offerings, which we didn’t really do before. As a result, we’ve noticed a highly significant increase in interest, whether it’s website visits, applications, exams, or enrollment. Everything has grown substantially for international students.

We are extremely attractive internationally right now. But we don’t necessarily want to grow in size; our priority remains maintaining top quality.

Another attractive aspect, which I didn’t mention before, is affordability. We’re a private university, but our tuition fees are quite reasonable. At the bachelor’s level, they’re around €5,000 to €6,000 per year. For master’s programs, it’s around €7,000 to €8,000. Our objective is to attract talented students who won’t be limited by a lack of resources.

You recently created both a dean of AI and a dean of sustainability, correct?

I proposed the idea of having experts with transversal missions across the university. Their role is to challenge our pedagogical approach, our research activity, and our operations. Of course, we can’t tackle everything at once, so it’s up to these deans to identify priorities and challenge all three dimensions gradually. Both deans have substantial expertise in their respective areas. I’m not asking them to be experts in pedagogy, research, and operations simultaneously, but they deeply understand their fields and are heavily connected both internationally and locally. Their job is to look at best practices – what innovative universities elsewhere are doing in teaching methods or operations – and then integrate those ideas into our offerings.

For instance, at the bachelor’s level, we’re currently brainstorming a project that would introduce a compulsory course on artificial intelligence. It would cover AI’s impact on society, management, private life, and mental welfare, and how to leverage AI in everyday life. We’re benchmarking and collecting evidence now. It’s important to clearly define the content so that by the time you earn a bachelor’s degree from Corvinus, you have a thorough understanding of AI’s strengths and weaknesses, how to use it professionally and personally, and how to turn it into an asset.

How do you see AI reshaping the fundamentals of business education? Do you have a sense of what’s coming?

We hear a lot about AI, but it’s similar to when people said the internet would kill movie theaters, and yet everyone still goes to movie theaters. So yes, AI will bring changes, but business education will continue in many familiar ways. We have to keep in mind that students in bachelor’s and even master’s programs are young adults. They’re social animals, if I may say, who, first and foremost, seek personal, face-to-face interactions. So we won’t switch entirely to digital or automated learning.

However, we’ll definitely explore ways to integrate AI to enhance our teaching. The evaluation process, for example, will become more challenging. Nowadays, I could produce ten 100-page theses in a minute using AI, so the way we evaluate students’ work will change significantly. Ironically, it might push us even further toward personal interaction, to become more like coaches than traditional professors.

When evaluating student work, of course we’ll encourage them to use AI tools, but critically rather than blindly. We must ensure that when students submit something, they genuinely understand what they’re presenting. Even in my previous university, I practiced this during thesis defenses: you allocate more time for direct, face-to-face interaction. For instance, if a student quotes an author, you simply ask a question about that author to quickly see whether they really engaged with the material. They won’t have ChatGPT in Google Glass.

There are ways to adapt, but it requires a code of ethics. We need to train students to effectively use AI tools to make society more productive. Certainly, AI will impact the labor market; some jobs might disappear or change significantly. Our responsibility is to equip students with specialized, interdisciplinary knowledge so they can use these tools effectively and avoid becoming victims of technological shifts.

This is exactly why we appointed the two new deans. We need their insights on strategy, best practices, and what’s happening globally. They’re attending conferences, analyzing current trends, and benchmarking about 15 different AI tools that could be integrated into classrooms.

What are your big goals for your first term? What do you see as the major opportunities?

The big goal is really to take a deep dive into revisiting the mission, vision, and values of the university. Our mission, fundamentally, is still to train students and conduct research, but we want to explicitly focus on preparing students to become leaders capable of navigating the major societal and technological challenges of our time.

These challenges include climate change; like it or not, it’s here. Regardless of political preferences or official recognition, the climate is warming, and we need to address it. That affects everything from insurance and business strategies to the core values we teach. The younger generation is far more sensitive to these issues, as well as to values of equality and sustainability. We can’t debate whether to integrate these aspects, they are essential, and students demand it.

Similarly, artificial intelligence will fundamentally alter how we learn, work, and interact socially. I don’t know if you’re familiar with young people – I have teenagers myself – but today even simple tasks like calling a restaurant to make a reservation can feel challenging for them. They handle things online seamlessly, but personal interactions are increasingly difficult. We need to address these changes proactively.

When I talk about knowledge conversion, it’s important to provide strong theoretical foundations, which we already do very well. But it’s equally important to make sure students grasp practical applications. They need to move from theory into project-based implementation, learning how to use theoretical insights effectively in real-world contexts. Since we’re a university, we emphasize understanding the background and origin of knowledge, teaching students to distinguish superficial information from genuine reasoning.

Another critical dimension, and perhaps our most enduring value, is critical thinking. We aim to narrow our core values to three, but I’m confident critical thinking will be among those that remain. It’s essential, especially in the context of sustainability and artificial intelligence. Students need the ability to develop their own knowledge, articulate their positions, and defend them thoughtfully. Although we don’t want to enter the political arena ourselves, we must equip students with methodological tools and knowledge that allow them to form their own informed judgments about complex situations.

What are the big challenges facing business education generally and Corvinus specifically right now?

The challenges for business education are closely connected to the broader challenges society faces. From a business model perspective, the critical challenge is straightforward: we must continue attracting talented students and talented faculty. At the Hungarian level, we already do this very effectively. Now our specific challenge at Corvinus is entering the international arena, attracting talent from beyond Hungary.

For business schools, there’s also the broader challenge of navigating political, corporate, and philosophical shifts in society. We must ensure we remain fully open to students and faculty from all beliefs and orientations, while at the same time preserving our independence from political, religious, or corporate dogma. To train a new generation that can genuinely tackle society’s significant challenges, we need students capable of seeing the world differently, students who are ready to question and change the status quo.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I think what’s important is that our most important goal is to bring the world to Corvinus and bring Corvinus to the world. We have a fantastic institution and city to do that, and this is really our key focus. We want to show that coming to Budapest and Hungary is exciting. You have to be bold to do it, because Budapest isn’t yet known internationally for education the way London, Paris, or New York might be. But we believe we have a serious opportunity to become one of these major education hubs. This signals how essential it is to open ourselves to the rest of the world and call for international talents to join us.

If I look at our game-changers going forward, we’ll either significantly adapt our existing degrees or create entirely new degrees, because we want to be innovative. One of our key objectives in the coming months is to attract not just a few, but many new professors and young researchers in fields that will define tomorrow’s knowledge. We’re especially open to hiring postdocs, assistant professors, and professors in sustainability and artificial intelligence. Not purely on the technical or theoretical side, but in terms of their impact on society, welfare, and the way we work.

When I say we’re investing heavily to attract faculty, we currently have 20 openings. That’s significant, considering our current faculty size is around 470.

We’re also investing heavily in our Career Services. We recognize we’re in Hungary, and if we attract international students, we need to help them find jobs not only in Budapest but abroad as well. Just today, in fact, I welcomed our new head of Career Services. She comes from Ireland, though she’s of Hungarian origin. We’re investing significantly not just in international faculty but also in international staff, to become more service-oriented and support our students in their global career search.

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