Interview with the Director of Internationalisation

Please, introduce yourself with a few words and the work of International Office.

I have been an assistant lecturer, later an assistant professor at the Faculty since 2015 and was a former Head of the TalentSpot for several years. I became the first Director of Internationalisation on the 1st of July 2022, which is a new role at the UPFBE. This position was created with the inauguration of the new Dean, who thought it essential to focus all the internationalisation-related elements in one hand. This includes internal and external activities, too. This first year was full of challenges, even for me and my three direct colleagues at the International Office.

What is the role of International Office of the Faculty of Business and Economics?

Basically, as a director, with the International Office, we have the responsibility to support reaching the Faculty mission: Educating excellent, solution-oriented, responsible business professionals to enhance the sustainable development of the local and the wider environment. Internationalisation is one of the functions which is indispensable for reaching it.

In a nutshell, at the operative level, we focus on the recruitment of international students, are responsible for the international admission processes, for the student, staff, and teaching exchange and mobility and also for the events of the international platform, such as the International Teaching Week or the Orientation Week for foreign students (in BSc and MSc level). Additional to these tasks, our office is the one which makes contact with potential new partner institutions or recruitment agencies.

What are the International Office's main focuses?

The following activities can be considered as major roles and responsibilities:

- International student recruitment: We participate in at least two or three relevant international higher education fairs each semester in cooperation with the University Internationalisation Office and plan to try out at least one new higher education fair per year. We are constant participants in the main Higher Education Fairs, such as the EAIE Conference. Also, in cooperation with the Faculty's Marketing Office, we organise programmes and activities to enhance international visibility. We focus our recruitment on the areas determined by the school's international recruitment strategy, such as Africa, the post-soviet countries, South East Asia, Latin America, and the MENA countries.

-Admission processes: We deal with the admission processes from the first question until the enrolment. This is the point when the Study Department enters the process and takes over the questions of the study-related matters.

For example, in the last intake, we had more than 300 interviews with more than 33 interview committees which took around 90 hours in total and required the participation of more than 40 colleagues.

- Visiting Faculty Programme: It is of utmost importance to attract high-quality scholars from all around the world. The Visiting Faculty Programme is for this purpose, which identifies Visiting Lecturers, Visiting Scholars and Visiting Professors. All of these three categories have different expectations and financing options to best exploit the possible benefits. In the Visiting Lecturer category, e.g., the researchers or academicians can be financed by Erasmus, or the accommodation and transfer-related expenses are covered by the Faculty. At the same time, 8 hours should be taught and participation at the International Teaching Week is required or beyond the 8 hours, one research seminar should be held for UPFBE lecturers and PhD students.

- Revision of the strategic partners: The revision of the international academic partners and exchanges portfolio began in the Spring of 2020; a point-based system helps the identification and distinction of meaningful cooperating and strategic partners.

- Obligatory International experience of the students and colleagues: Both the target groups have their responsibilities to gather international points to acquire world-wide and up-to-date knowledge and to have international cooperation. Basically, I consider CIX (Compulsory International Experience) every programme where there is an opportunity to interact with somebody outside the mere students or colleagues being in Hungary. This could even be in Hungary or Pécs if the participants travel here or there is an online event. 10 points are required to obtain for the colleagues on a two-year basis, while the students won't receive their degree without earning 20 international points. On the student side, we provide support in the organisation of international mobility and double degree programmes. On the teaching side, we are responsible for the International Teaching Week, connecting our colleagues with partners, facilitating administration, supporting the Visiting Faculty Programme, travel arrangements, and grants.

- International exchange and mobility:  Our unit is responsible for managing the International Mobility programmes, from providing the relevant information and controlling the application process and evaluating the applications with the involvement of the Internation Committee and the Student Union. Also, we are dealing with the Learning agreements and helping with information the students related the credit recognition.

- International events: The main spring event is the Annual International Teaching Week, in which we invite representatives of international partner institutions. The idea of establishing this event is, besides providing our students with International experience At Home, to have the opportunity of discussing two hot topics in today's higher education with fellow lecturers and map the opportunities of joint programmes, research and any additional meaningful cooperation. Also, we are responsible for the International Orientation Weeks, which focus partly on study-related matters but also give an insight into the operation of the student organisations, give a clear picture of immigration-related issues, and introduce all the services we can offer here in the school. This two or three-day-long event also provides many platforms for bonding and cultural insight.

- Blended Intensive Programmes: The International Business Challenge Blended Intensive Programme was organised jointly with our two valued partners, the HAN University of Applied Sciences and the University of Zagreb. During the programme, groups of students undertook short-term physical mobility in Pécs combined with a virtual component facilitating collaborative online learning exchange and teamwork. The International Office took part in the organisation of the whole programme, such as arranging the required agreements and coordinating the project at an operative level.

- Cooperation with other departments of the School: As I mentioned, we work in cooperation with the Marketing Office, TalentSpot and the Study Department, but we also provide information for other units, such as the Research and Innovation related departments or the International Accreditation Office of the School.

- Internation Committee meetings: The IO coordinate the organisation of International Committee meetings and is accountable for the minutes and all related documents.

In which cases can students turn to International Office?

The International Office works in close collaboration with the Study Department and the TalentSpot to ensure the full support of the students. Naturally, this is only support as we are not allowed and neither want to act in the name of adults studying at our Faculty, but we understand and know that procedures and tasks sometimes can be challenging and confusing.

These are just the main services that the IO offers, among others:

• Application process
• Module equivalence identification for studies by foreign partner institutions
• Participation in orientation week and other events for (international) students
• Support for students' initiatives
• Direct connection with the Immigration Office
• Special individual problems, offering recommendations for university-level services
• Dormitory and accommodation-related issues
• International experience activities (studies, internships, short programmes)
• Scholarship opportunities (Erasmus+, CEEPUS, Erasmus+ Credit Mobility, Campus Mundi, Stipendium Hungaricum)

How do you run your office hours?

The International Office has separate office hours for the outgoing mobilities, which results in being the most relevant topic to the majority of the students. They are embedded into the Study Department office hours to offer this service in the same place: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 1.00 p.m.-2.30 p.m. Regarding other issues, it is strongly suggested to write an e-mail before, but the office is situated room B131, everybody could come there asking for help.

How can students get in touch with the International Office?

The fastest way is by writing an e-mail to international [at] ktk.pte.hu, which is a shared mailbox, meaning that all of the International Office colleagues have access to it, and the fastest one will deliver the required answer. We can have a real-time conversation online (after asking for an appointment and having the meeting in Teams or Zoom), by phone at +36 72 501 500 and after dialling the extension number 23160 or in person.

Is there anything else you would like to share about the International Office?

We are convinced that we can only provide world-class education in the domestic market if we are constantly present in the international higher education space, continuously developing our international programmes, adapting and integrating the latest international quality standards, and regularly measuring ourselves in international accreditation procedures. Our motto is: There is no high-quality and labour market-orientated education without international experience.