Central European University

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Central European University
Közép-európai Egyetem
Latin: Universitas Europae Centralis
Established: 1991
Type: Private
Rector: Yehuda Elkana
Faculty: 305
Students: 1,400
Undergraduates: 110
Postgraduates: 840
Doctoral students: 420
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Campus: Urban
Website: http://www.ceu.hu

Central European University (CEU) is a US- and Hungarian-licensed and accredited university based in Budapest, Hungary.

CEU is a graduate university concentrating on the social sciences and the humanities. The university pursues a mission to achieve excellence in teaching, research and policy in order to become a change maker in the region and beyond, with a special focus on contemporary challenges of open societies, and democratization.

Central European University has 300 faculty (130 permanent, 170 visiting) and 1400 students from 80 countries.[1] Students apply for CEU mostly from Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. And, increasingly, CEU welcomes students from all over the world. The language of communication and instruction is English. CEU offers 30 Master's and 11 Ph.D programs.

The university has a unique combination of American, European and regional intellectual and academic traditions. It follows the American model in research, teaching methods, and in the training of doctoral students. CEU also embodies Europe’s cultural traditions and new developmental objectives. Both teaching and research at CEU reflect this meeting point, placing a strong emphasis on intercultural awareness.

Contents

[edit] History

Central European University evolved from a lecture series, which was organized in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) before 1989, and was sponsored by Soros Foundation. At that time the idea of a University where students of the region could study together emerged in the mind of several Central European intellectuals and received financial support from George Soros.[2]

The founders wanted to create a network-university, which studied problems of the Post-Communist region. Accordingly the Central European University was established in 1991, and first had three campuses in three different Central European cities: Budapest, Hungary; Prague, Czech Republic and Warsaw, Poland. However this structure was too expensive and legal problems appeared concerning the accreditation processes especially in Poland and Czech Republic.[3] Following political pressure from the Czech government of Václav Klaus, in 1996 the University's Prague-based faculties moved to Budapest,[4] later the Warsaw-based faculties did the same.

The Budapest-based campus got its final place only in 1995, but this event helped to consolidate the situation of CEU in Hungary. The building is in the heart of the city next to the Saint Stephen's Basilica and not far from the Hungarian Parliament Building.

CEU was to be an unusual graduate school for this region-an independent, international institution in the social sciences and humanities, committed to promoting a new model of learning. Besides, the university was pioneer in many fields, and started Master's programs in gender studies and environmental science in the region first. In the 1990s Central and Eastern Europe was a very interesting region because of its transition period, which made CEU very attractive for professors and students as well. Nowadays - with the end of transition - CEU is changing and has begun to lose its Central European character.

Today, CEU is an internationally recognized institution of higher education, serving as an advanced center of research and policy analysis and facilitating academic dialogue while preparing its graduates as the next generation of leaders and scholars. CEU has been seeking to contribute to the development of open societies in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union by promoting a system of education in which ideas are creatively, critically, and comparatively examined. Also, in response to the spreading democratization beyond Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, the University has extended its outreach and financial aid program to other parts of the world experiencing emerging democracies.[5]

On 14 October 2007 George Soros stepped down as Chairman of CEU Board. Leon Botstein (President of the Bard College, New York), who had previously served as the Vice-Chair of the Board, was elected as new Board Chairman for a two-year term. George Soros is a Life-CEU Trustee and will serve as Honorary Chairman of the Board.[6]

[edit] Legal Basis

CEU is organized as a US-style institution, governed by a Board of Trustees, with an absolute charter from the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, for and on behalf of the New York State Education Department. In the United States, CEU is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. In Hungary, CEU is officially recognized as a non-state-maintained and operated university. The institution and its programs are accredited by the Hungarian Accreditation Committee.[7]

[edit] Departments and Programs

[edit] Departments

  • Economics
  • Environmental Sciences and Policy
  • Gender Studies
  • History
  • International Relations and European Studies
  • Legal Studies
  • Mathematics and its Applications
  • Medieval Studies
  • Nationalism Studies
  • Philosophy
  • Political Science
  • Public Policy
  • Sociology and Social Anthropology

[edit] Degree Programs

[edit] Bachelor’s Degrees

  • BA in Business Administration (BBA). An undergraduate degree in International Business offered in conjunction with Milan’s Bocconi University
  • BS in Global Management.

[edit] One-year Master’s degree programs

  • MA programs: Central European History; Gender Studies; Human Rights; International Relations and European Studies; Medieval Studies; Nationalism Studies; Philosophy; Political Science; Public Policy; Sociology and Social Anthropology
  • MS programs: Environmental Sciences and Policy; IT Management
  • LLM programs: Comparative Constitutional Law; Economic and Legal Studies; Human Rights; International Business Law
  • Business programs: Master of Business Administration; Executive MBA (International Master's in Management)

[edit] Two-year Master’s degree programs

  • MA programs: Critical Gender Studies, Economics; Historical Studies; Philosophy; Sociology and Social Anthropology with Specialization in Global and Urban Studies (two years, US accreditation in process)
  • MS in Applied Mathematics

[edit] Doctoral programs

  • PhD in: Comparative Gender Studies; Comparative History of Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe; Economics; Environmental Sciences and Policy; Mathematics and its Applications; Medieval Studies; Philosophy; Political Science (Political Science, International Relations track, Specialization in Nationalism Studies); Sociology and Social Anthropology
  • Doctor of Juridical Sciences (SJD) giving students an opportunity to work towards a doctoral degree in law with a combination of independent research and coursework.

[edit] CEU Business School

The CEU Business School was established independently of CEU in 1988 as the International Management Center (IMC), and was the first institution behind the Iron Curtain to award western-style MBA degrees. CEU Business School - together with three other universities - offers the 11th best Executive MBA program in the World.[8] According to the Global Top 100 Business Schools Research Report, CEU Business School is in the top 100 Business Schools in the World and in the top 30 in Europe (18th in 2006; 24th in 2007).[9]

[edit] CEU Summer University

The program is unique in its diversity of faculty and student body as well as its academic offerings. It brings together groups of interested individuals to study together intensively for two or three weeks in Budapest coming from an enormously varied geographical, cultural and academic background. Participants have been accepted into the program from 99 different countries ranging from Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to countries of Asia, Africa, North America and South America. The courses are taught by a team of teachers who also represent a wide range of countries in an effort to match the diversity of the student body. Professors have come from approximately 54 different countries from the region as well as mostly from Western Europe and America.[10]

[edit] CEU Library

The Central European University Library was founded by George Soros in June 1992. This rapidly growing library already has the largest collection of English-language materials in the fields of the social sciences and the humanities in Central and Eastern Europe. The Library currently holds over 200,000 documents in various formats, including 150,000 monographs, over 1,500 periodical titles (with 25,000 retrospective volumes), and 10,000 working papers titles. The primary concerns of the CEU Library are to develop a modern English-language university library in the fields of the social sciences and the humanities and to become a leading research and information center in the region by using all available means of information technology. The holdings of the Library reflect the extensive and specialized curriculum of CEU, focusing on subjects which will help develop and sustain open societies in Central and Eastern Europe.[11]

[edit] Endowment

Soros has endowed CEU with a total of €420 million [12] (which includes €20 million dedicated to the business school). This is believed to be largest private donation to a university in Europe.

[edit] Distinguished faculty


[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.ceu.hu/about/whyceu/factsfigures CEU: Facts and Figures
  2. ^ http://www.narancs.hu/index.php?gcPage=/public/hirek/hir.php&id=13138 Magyar Narancs: Interview with the Vice-Rektor of the CEU (Hungarian)
  3. ^ http://www.narancs.hu/index.php?gcPage=/public/hirek/hir.php&id=13138 Magyar Narancs: Interview with the Vice-Rektor of the CEU (Hungarian)
  4. ^ Article on the webpage of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hungary
  5. ^ http://ceu.bard.edu/about/ Bard College: About CEU and Budapest
  6. ^ George Soros Steps down as Chairman of CEU Board
  7. ^ http://ceu.bard.edu/about/ Bard College: About CEU and Budapest
  8. ^ http://rankings.ft.com/emba-rankings Financial Times: EMBA rankings
  9. ^ http://www.topmba.com/research/top_100_business_schools/4_top_business_schools/42_europe/ Top Business Schools in 2007: Europe
  10. ^ http://www.sun.ceu.hu/01-about/mission.php CEU Summer University Webpage: Our Mission
  11. ^ http://www.library.ceu.hu/missionstatement.html CEU Library Webpage: Mission Statement
  12. ^ Central European University and George Soros Jointly Announce an Increase to 400 Million Euros in the CEU Endowment

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 47°30′1.85″N, 19°2′58.49″E

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