Unique case study-based education at Corvinus University of Budapest
The position of the Hungarian case study education is a popular topic of conversations after case competitions. The penetration of case study based or case study solving education in the various higher education institutions shows a rather diverse picture. The aim of the following post is to provide a short summary on the ongoing case study education at Corvinus.
Bachelor programs
For students in Bachelor programs at Corvinus University, there is a complete training structure available; the so called “Business Economics pyramid”. Beyond the course of Business Economics which is mandatory for all students, the most talented can further expand their knowledge in the courses of Advanced Business Economics, Cases on Business Economics and Cases on International Business Strategy.
- Business Economics (BE): The first “real” business-like course for freshman students is the course of Business Economics marked by the name of Attila Chikán. During the course, students can acquire a certain type of business approach and they get to learn the basic definitions and concepts of management science. Students build very much on what they learn in this course during their future studies. They encounter short, well-defined case studies already at this time.
- Advanced Business Economics (ABE): This second semester course primarily builds on the knowledge gained in Business Economics. Students solve short case studies in Hungarian language and improve their presentation skills.
- Cases on Business Economics (COBE): Students can encounter case study solving in English language for the first time in their fourth semester within the frame of the course Cases on Business Economics. During the course, students form teams and solve short case studies related to different functional areas. Every theoretical class is followed by a practice-oriented one where teams receive feedback for the solutions they came up with.
- Cases on International Business Strategy (CIBS): The crown of the ongoing case study education at Corvinus is the course of CIBS. Students have to solve ill-structured corporate case studies and then present their solutions every two weeks. Solutions are presented to a professional jury which provides the teams with feedback afterwards.
Master programs
- Strategic International Management (SIM): If we look at CIBS as the crown of case study solving education at Corvinus, we can think of SIM as the crown jewel. The course was led and mentored by Gyula Bakacsi until 2011. The participants of the course achieved successes at MSc-, MBA- (and formerly BSc-) level competitions.
- CEMS MIM Program: In Hungary, only Corvinus University is the member of the CEMS MIM network and the related International Management (MSc) program. The English language program – which was in the top 3 management programs in the Financial Times’ ranking in the last few years – builds very strongly on practical case study based education.
In the last five years, the systematically built up – although currently swayed due to institutional cutbacks – educational program provided the job market with 500-600 students who were trained in case solving. Approximately 50 people (the winners of CIBS and SIM courses) participated in international, invitation-only case study competitions. These – mostly graduated – students comprise the best-trained work force of big international strategic consulting firms and Hungarian or foreign-owned multinational companies.