Central Bank of Hungary and its partner institutes

As the independent Hungarian central bank, which commenced its operations on June 24, 1924, the MNB is first and foremost responsible for price stability. Without prejudice to its primary objective, the MNB supports the economic policy of the Government, using the monetary policy instruments at its disposal.

The social responsibility program of the MNB has been launched its social responsibility program several years ago. As part of this strategy, the Bank is committed to promote the development of the  higher education of Hungary and to improve high-quality training in economics, to enhance research capabilities and financial literacy. To this end, in compliance with its mandate, the MNB has launched several education initiatives and partnerships for create knowledge.  

The team of the MNB’s Education Directorate strives to promote and develop these academic initiatives. While these mostly target Hungarian students, we also aim to strongly promote the internationalisation of these programs. The MNB Summer School of Economics 2018 is one of our international flagship project, which was established last year.

More information: Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) – Central Bank of Hungary

The MNB Department, which was established in 2015 is solely supported by the Magyar Nemzeti Bank. The MNB Department runs a well-respected MA program in Economic Analysis. It organises courses in addition to cover the theory and practice of monetary policy and banking. It also gives technical training in methodological and modelling relevant issues in modern central bank practices. The program owns several unique aspects. Outstanding scholars teaching in the program include many former executives of the MNB who also have wide international experience in diverse fields of macroeconomics, banking, monetary policy or financial supervision.

Students obtain first-hand practical insights from lectures delivered by current central bank executives and well-known international personalities. Among others George Osborne (former Chancellor of the Exchequers for the British Government), Boris Vujcic (governor, Croatian Central Bank), Frank Smets (Director General of the Directorate General Research, ECB), Paul De Grauwe (John Paulson Chair in European Political Economy European Institute, London School of Economics), Jan Kregel (Director of Research Levy Institute, USA), acted as our guest lecturers last year. Publications published by some of the MNB Department’s faculty featured a volume The Hungarian Way – Targeted Central Bank Policy, which was published in 2017 and another book entitled Modern Central Banking in Practice came out in March 2018. In 2017 the MNB Department has organized its first international conference on current issues of digital currencies. As an annual international event the MNB Department makes a contribution to the MNB Summer School which features a wide variety of exciting topics. This endeavour was enhanced by the establishment of the MNB Department to promote education in economics. In this enterprise the MNB followed the good examples of the Tsinghua University’s PBC School of Finance which was founded by the People’s Bank of China, Deutsche Bundesbank, which runs its own college, and the Bank of England, which maintains close cooperation with the University of Warwick Law School and Warwick Business School.

More information: MNB Department at CUB or MNB Economania Blog

The Budapest Institute of Banking (BIB)’s mission and motto bears the title Edutainment for future experts in finance, is inspired by the goals to achieve our ambitions in top-quality education and to be an internationally recognized institute. The programs of the BIB offer high profile, experience-based and practice-oriented knowledge with top lecturers from the field. Covering the entire operational range of the financial sector, the courses grant the opportunity to participants, from experts to top managers, to gain cutting-edge knowledge and to discover professional development opportunities. The mission of the BIB is dedicated to provide high-quality knowledge through high-ranking education, building on noble traditions and values. Besides sharing the most up-to-date knowledge in finances and economics, and along with the strengthening the financial culture, special attention is paid to the introduction of socially beneficial best practices. BIB’s aim is to train experts who will be able to tackle the challenges in the sector by relying on their acquired skills and up-to-date knowledge.

More information: Budapest Institute of Banking (BIB)

The Institute of Geography - Geoeconomy and Sustainable Development of the Corvinus University of Budapest was established at the end of 2015-, integrates a new geostrategic unit in co-operation with three departments with long histories in related research areas: the Department of Economic Geography, founded by the noted geographer and Hungary’s former prime minister, Pál Teleki in 1920, the Department of Environmental Economics and Technology established in the 1980s and a research group focusing on future studies. The mission of the Institute is to conduct research in the fields of regional studies, geostrategy, sustainable development and future studies, and to provide knowledge regarding spatial, developmental and environmental issues to students of the University’s business, economic and social science programs. It has a special focus on strategic and development planning of policies, territories and regions, cities. The basis for this is a cooperative, multi- and interdisciplinary scientific approach supported by the collaboration of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank.

More information: Geoeconomy and Sustainable Development of the Corvinus University of Budapest

Pallas Athene Geopolitical Research Institute was set up by Pallas Athene Geopolitical and Innovation Foundation in the spring of 2015 with a view to establishing the research bases of geopolitics as a discipline in Hungary. Since the beginning, the researchers of the institute have already published about 400 articles and studies. The researchers specialise in the countries in focus and are proficient in the language of the given country. Besides, the institute endeavours to enhance the professional knowledge base of the Research Institute with the work of Hungarian and contributing researchers from the region and of researchers visiting the institute from East Asia under the “visiting fellow program.” Being aware of the increasing potential in the East Asian region, PAGEO Research Institute focuses on six East Asian countries including China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, India, Singapore and Indonesia. The objective of the institute is to build one of the best research institutes in Central and Eastern Europe by focusing on East Asia and to be featured on the map of the best and the most innovative research institutes in the world.

 More information:  Pallas Athene Geopolitical Research Institute