A delegation from the Shanghai University of International Business and Economics visited Győr to establish international higher education cooperation. The Chinese institution is mainly linked to SZE in the fields of economics and law, and its students will have the opportunity to study in the Asian port city in the future, even within the framework of an exchange programme.

Since 2016, Széchenyi István University has been strategically focusing on building international relations: it cooperates with higher education institutions in several countries to broaden the academic horizons of its students and faculty. Recently, a delegation from the Shanghai University of International Business and Economics (SUIBE) visited the Győr campus in hopes of establishing a new partnership.

The young institution in the Chinese port city of nearly 25 million people now has 13,000 students and 1,200 faculty and staff, represented by a five-member delegation that visited Győr. Márta Mészáros, Head of Centre of the International Programmes and Alumni Centre, introduced the guests to the high quality academic and scientific work at Széchenyi University.

“Our institution gained university status more than 20 years ago, and in that time we have grown to more than 200 courses, of which around 40 are offered as an English-taught programme. The number of international students has also grown significantly in recent years, with around 1,000 nationals from nearly 80 countries now studying with us,” said the Head of Centre.

The delegation of the Shanghai University of International Business and Economics was welcomed by the staff of Széchenyi István University on the campus of Győr (Photo: András Adorján)

In addition to the practice-oriented training courses, the SUIBE management got acquainted with the Innovation Parks of Zalaegerszeg, Mosonmagyaróvár and Győr, the latter of which was discussed in detail by Dr Tamás Kolossváry, Head of the Science Park. He stressed that the main role of the innovation park is to provide a showcase for research and development, linking regional industry with higher education courses that provide real knowledge. “Our main research themes include telecommunications - with a particular focus on digital areas - sustainability and energy efficiency, agriculture and health technologies. Our aim is to develop long-term partnerships with companies that are driving industrial development and to contribute to valuable research results through our activities,” he said.

The main profile of SUIBE is in economics, international business and finance. The strongest link is therefore with the Kautz Gyula Faculty of Economics of Széchenyi University, which was presented by Dr Sándor Remsei, Dean of the Faculty. “We are proud to have 2,500 students studying in our faculty and the Doctoral School of Regional and Economic Sciences. We have an excellent teaching staff, with 80 colleagues teaching our courses, more than 80 percent of whom have doctoral degrees,” he said.

Dr Júlia Szőke, Vice-Dean of the Apáczai Csere János Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, responsible for academic and international relations, said: the faculty has a long tradition of continuously improving its courses to make them attractive to foreign students. “Currently, we offer two of our courses in English - International Studies and Sociology - and we are working on a Master's degree in Human Resource Counselling in English from September 2025,” she said.

On behalf of the Ferenc Deák Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Dr. László Knapp, Deputy Dean for Educational Affairs, spoke about the courses available there, highlighting the Master’s programme of Law in Modern Technologies and Cybersecurity Law, which will start in autumn 2024. “The course, which will be available in both Hungarian and English, will offer students a combination of law and informatics, with courses on the legal aspects of modern technologies such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity law and informatics,” he said.

Following the presentation of the Széchenyi István University, Xu Yonglin, Vice President of SUIBE, praised the presentation and said that he sees many opportunities for cooperation between the two institutions. Zhang Shuihui, Deputy Director of the International Office at SUIBE, said: “The innovative scientific work being done here is impressive, and the strong network of links with industry is exemplary. From what we have heard, Széchenyi University is a complex training centre with a wide range of different academic disciplines and high quality learning opportunities. SUIBE, on the other hand, is an institution focusing on economics, business and law. Fortunately, the people of Győr are outstanding in these subjects, so we can build a strong foundation for the relationship between our universities.” He added that the first step in the cooperation could be to organise student exchange programmes.