See also:
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Strategic Objectives
Institutum Geometrico-Hydrotechnicum, the legal predecessor of Budapest University of Technology
and Economics (BME) was founded in 1782, and it was the first institute in Europe to train engineers
at university level. There are numerous world famous specialists among the former students and
lecturers of the university, including several Nobel Prize winners (Dennis Gábor, Eugene Wigner,
György Oláh).
In the year 2000 the Technical University worded its Mission Statement, the
fundamental principles of which are still valid and hardly need to be amended to be topical.
However, the time has come when strategic objectives need to be allocated to the missions included
in the statement. Setting strategic objects serves the accomplishment of the mission undertaken.
From the strategic objectives a strategic plan can be derived, and from
the strategic plan the individual action programs can be determined.
In the present document the strategic objectives of BME are defined, starting with the mission
statement on which these objectives are based.
The Mission Statement
BME, as a prestigious Hungarian higher education institute is committed to differentiated,
multilevel, high-standard education, founded on intensive basic training, research, development and
innovation, and scientific qualification in technical and natural sciences and in certain fields of
economic and social sciences.
- BME’s aim is to issue prestigious diplomas that are among the most valuable ones on the
domestic and Central and Eastern European labour market, so that the best companies and institutes
compete for its graduates. Furthermore its aim is to play a decisive role in research and
development and to contribute to Hungary’s economic development perceivably.
- BME’s primary task is to ensure the basic studying conditions for students and to facilitate
their academic progress. BME intends to do its best in order to maintain the equal chances of
students, help them become intellectuals, encourage them to live a healthy life and develop their
human and professional abilities. Its aim is to enable students to reach the highest possible level
of qualification in compliance with their talent and diligence as a result of education.
- BME, as a centre of Hungarian academic, technical and economic life maintains close relations
with professional organisations and the economic sphere, and concentrates on exploiting mutual
advantages.
- BME intends to establish harmonic working relations with other Hungarian higher education
institutes.
- BME is also committed to cultivate international relationships in the interest of increasing
its lecturers’, researchers’ and students’ professional knowledge and international recognition.
Education
In education the BME – according to its traditions – provides a unity of theory and practice,
that is high standard theoretical foundations and practical training based on industrial
relationships. Taking into consideration the progress of sciences and the changes of the demands
of society it regards it as its task to develop the contents of training permanently both in the
field of multilevel and multilingual education.
The BME organises training courses in student and non-student legal relations. Its courses in
student legal relations are the following:
- basic course (BSc)
- master course (MSc)
- doctoral (PhD and DLA) course
- advanced professional training
- specialised further training.
Research and academic qualification
The BME’s mission that cannot be separated from education is cultivating sciences, scientific
research, creative work, ensuring the characteristics of a research university. As a part of
international research programs, as a leading institute of Hungarian research trends, BME’s
activity covers basic and applied research forming the innovation chain, development of
technical and economic products and services, and complex quality assurance, and it concentrates
on using research results.
The BME is a base for training scientists, where PhD students and post-doctorate scholars play
an important role. After concluding organised doctoral training or individual preparation, the
BME awards an academic (PhD) degree or – at the Department of Architecture – art (DLA) degree.
In certain scientific fields and branches the Technical University concludes a procedure aimed
at obtaining the titles of habilitated doctor (Dr. habil.), or, at the Department of Architecture,
habilitated DLA, and issues such diplomas.
Strategic Objectives
General objectives
The aim of the BME is to establish an organisational and operational model that
supports the outstanding aims of education and research. Its educational and research
organisations – co-ordinating with each other – should be suitable for organising BSc, MSc and
doctoral programs and winning external research sources at the same time. It operates its
organisations established for obtaining income to achieve the best possible results by making
the employees working there interested in this. At its organisations directly serving education
and research the priority of cost efficiency and performing their basic task should be asserted.
BME creates operational rules suitable for ensuring the quality of high standard education and
research, establishing and supporting a client-centred approach.
In order to win sources, the Technical University enters its organisations into competition, and
creates its internal circumstances in accordance with this, which circumstances are suitable for
observing the rules of the competition and having them observed, and for evaluating the results of
the competition. Its management system and mechanisms support obtaining income in connection with
training and research activities and distributing them correctly among the organisational units.
It measures the efficiency of the operation of its organisations with appropriate indicators and
improves it continuously. It regards its training and research organisations as knowledge
centers providing creative freedom for its employees and collaborators to develop their abilities.
It recognises that knowledge changes more rapidly than the hierarchy, and for this reason – wherever
it is possible – it asserts the principle of subsidiarity and decentralises decisions. The most
important criteria of its operation characteristics are: correctness, performance and
comprehensibility.
In the course of developing its international relations BME intends to establish
international relationships that facilitate the acquisition of research and training experience
and income and the development of the different forms of students’ mobility. By 2010 it intends to
earn at least half of its income deriving from paying courses from the courses taught in foreign
languages.
BME’s human policy is performance-centred, it supports creativity and excellence,
and it appreciates experience obtained in economy and business life. Its income policy is
performance-related, it permanently makes its training and research staff younger. Its aim is that
by 2015 the average age of the training and research staff remains below 50 years. A further aim
is to increase the average earnings of its lecturers, researchers and other diploma holders to more
than three times the national average earnings of intellectual workers by 2015.
BME intensively develops its infrastructure for training and research, first of all
by exploiting the advantages of governmental and European Union development programs. In the course
of its investments it lays special emphasis on material assets supporting master and doctoral
courses and applied research.
BME’s quality system is determined by a stakeholder-centred approach. It regularly
examines the expectations of the parties interested in its operation, measures their satisfaction,
and on the basis of the results it determines its strategy and programs. It collects opinions
especially in the following groups of stakeholders and with the following aims:
- Future students: the expectations of secondary school pupils from the Technical University.
- Present students: asking for students’ opinion on the lecturers
- Recent graduates: follow-up study.
- Labour market: surveys carried out among employers.
- Technical University’s employees, students: opinions on internal processes and on the activity
supporting training and research.
- Top researchers and lecturers: asking for the opinion of prominent personalities that work at
or graduated from the Technical University.
- Leading personalities, bodies of higher education, state administration: supporting organisation
(Ministry of Education), Hungarian Accreditation Committee, Higher Education Academic Council, etc.
- Most important domestic partners: opinions of companies operating in Hungary, Hungarian Academy
of Sciences, higher education institutes, social organisations, etc.
- International relations: opinions of universities and companies, international comparisons.
Education - training
The BME determines its training program taking into consideration the
demands of the labour market, the scientific trends and its resources. Among the forms of training
determined in the mission statement the Technical University intends to concentrate on
- master courses and
- doctoral courses aimed at obtaining a scientific or art degree.
Its aim is to offer the best majors and programs in the country at these training levels and to reach
the standard of similar courses at the best European universities. It uses a decisive proportion of
its intellectual and financial abilities to enable the best lecturers and students to take part in
its master and doctoral courses. The BME’s aim is to develop its present English language course and
offer its doctoral courses also in English by 2010 and its master courses by 2012; the other aim is
to increase the number of students taking part in these courses to at least half of the total number
of students.
BME pays special attention to its basic course and specialised further training course. The basic
course should be among the best ones at national level; dealing with special talents is an important
aim; apart from using the obtained knowledge on the labour market the majority of students graduating
from the BME should be able to take part in further training and obtain an MSc degree at any
university in the world.
BME also organises advanced special training courses and other training courses in the interest of
facilitating the training of wide layers of society with its professional experience, making use of
its unexploited capacities and extending its employees’ knowledge.
The Technical University – basically relying on the reports coming from the labour market and on the
system of students’ assessment of lecturers – measures the efficiency of training.
Research – development – innovation
The Technical University’s most important objective is that its research activity should
be in line with the research and technological development programs determined by the European
Research Region, and that its organisations do scientific research of world standard in
numerous fields.
Among domestic programs it pays special attention to research and development supported by
programs offered by the National Development Plan, the National Office of Research and Technology
and the National Scientific Research Fund. Its outstanding aim is to carry out intensive applied
research in its own scientific fields, to achieve innovation results strengthening by this the
connection between the Technical University and the participants of economy.
BME’s important objective is to win further research and development resources in its special
fields and sciences. The decisive resources are the above programs financed from budget sources
not mentioned here, scholarships, grants that can be obtained from funds and civil organisations
supporting research, and the possibilities offered by the business sphere.
BME’s aim is to increase its research-development-innovation income so that by 2010
it amounts to at least one-third of its total income. In the interest of extending its research
capacities its aim is that by the above date – in the doctoral programs of applied sciences – the
number of PhD students financed from external sources should be increased to at least twice the
number of state-financed PhD students.
The efficiency of scientific research is measured with scientometric methods recognised in
international scientific life, and the number of inventions and patents and the economic
utilisation of the research results is assessed separately.
Services
First of all the Technical University intends to develop its education organising
services supporting master and doctoral courses and in general intellectuals. Among
these services special attention is paid to developing electronic administration, academic
consulting and helping students to find jobs.
For the participants of education and research the Technical University provides research
organising and utilising services supporting finding information in connection with
obtaining sources, communication with organisations providing sources, the preparation of
applications, the use of obtained sources, the protection and use of intellectual property rights,
establishing and managing enterprises dealing with innovation. The Technical University attaches
special importance to its advisory, consulting and other services that can support or improve
the quality of the Technical University’s basic activity directly or by using the income gained
from them.
The Technical University finds it important to maintain and possibly develop the sport,
health and cultural services offered for its students and employees. BME does not restrict
organisations initiated by its students and employees, and it also provides possibilities for
other spare-time activities.
First of all the Technical University measures the efficiency of the services supplementing its
training and research activity on the basis of the opinion of the university’s citizens, students
and employees.
Preparing the strategic plan and action programs
After approving the strategic objectives BME prepares a strategic plan, in which:
a) it analyses the expectations of the parties interested in the operation of BME, makes a
survey of the resources available and necessary for the fulfilment of these expectations with
respect to the building complex,
b) it creates an organisational, operational, financial and interest model supporting the
strategic objectives,
c) it creates the action program aimed at realising the strategic objectives of the educational
and research field and the service field supporting them,
d) it determines its quality policy principles and creates its quality system.
On the basis of the objectives defined in the strategic plan, the schedule of the individual
action programs and the persons in charge are determined as well as the system of the monitoring
and control of the action programs.
Budapest, April 2005
Prof. Károly Molnár, D.Sc.
Rector
Approved at the meeting of the University Council on 25th April 2005