While the name changed several times, the teaching philosophy of the faculty of College changed only twice. Firstly, when during the first decades after the Second World War a monopolised, state owned system was installed in the Catering and Commerce sectors, following the intensive and diverse commercial activities of several decades. During these years - first as a vocational school, then later as a college - the institution trained staff for state owned companies.

A few years before the political changes of 1989, as the market economy was gradually developing, the educational activities were aiming again at preparing students for the formation and management of business enterprises.

By the end of the century, two functions dominate the educational philosophy of the college:

As a traditional function, the faculty of college trains Economists specialised in the Commerce, Catering, Hotel and Tourism sectors, as a part of the Hungarian Higher Education system. Normally, having gained a few years experience, our graduates hold management roles in the Hungarian business community.

The second function which we were first to start the preparations for in Hungary, was the training of the future managers of small and medium sized businesses in the Commerce, Catering and Tourism sectors.

In both functions, the faculty of college aims at providing practice-oriented training. Important venues which include:

• The Alma Mater Restaurant and Pub, the training cabinet of the College, which operates as a real catering business
• The Tan-inform office at Király utca, and
• The Páva Plaza training hotel, which was opened in 1999.

As expressed in our mission statement, the Faculty of Commerce, Catering and Tourism aims to be the leading institution in its specialty area in Central and Eastern Europe. This is supported by our strategic plans. We regard the following strategic development directions as the most important:

Further development of our practise oriented, module based accredited post-secondary programmes, the Faculty of College co-operates with several partner institutions, primarily outside of Budapest.

We have signed cooperation agreements with secondary vocational schools to adapt our accredited post-secondary programmes. We plan to allow final year vocational school students to join into this system.

Five Teacher Training Colleges offer a course in Rural Tourism Management. (Győr, Kaposvár, Nyíregyháza, Szombathely, Zsámbék.)

Together with the Faculty of State Administration, we run a Settlement Management programme.

The high demand for a degree in Economics among graduates of other professions indicates a need for a structural change. Our faculty of college intends to satisfy that need in its area of expertise. Thus, in addition to our existing Specialised Economist and Expert training courses, we offer 3-year postgraduate courses with specialisation in the fields of:

• The Oriental Commercial Academy,
• European Studies

Both specialisations prepare post-graduate students for international business relations and EU integration. The European Studies course directly aims at training young professionals to handle tasks related to the EU admission process. We were first to commerce such a course in 1992.

The English and German language courses of the Tourism and Hotel Faculty were launched in 1994/95, and were internationally accredited by the EFAH (European Foundation for the Accreditation of Hotelschool Programmes). The first students of our Tourism programme in English and German graduated in the summer of 1998. The quality of the training is guaranteed by our international partners (Manchester Metropolitan University, Fachhochschule Kempten). The German language course of the Faculty of Commerce was commenced in 1998.

We use our international and local professional network to ensure that our institution has a high profile in Hungary and abroad, and that our diploma is accepted world-wide.