History of the Kautz Faculty
Our journey began in September 1990 with establishing the legal predecessor of Széchenyi István University. A significant milestone was the introduction of economist training in 1992 with the bachelor's degree in business administration, marking the university's foray into the field of economics.
The management of economics education became the task of the Institute of Economics, which was established in 1991 and later became the Faculty of Economics in 1993. The development of the economics college training at Széchenyi István College was guided by the visionary leadership of professor Dr. József Kupcsik, who served as the director of the Institute of Economics and the Faculty until 1996. His deputy, college professor Béla Szente, also played a crucial role in the launch of economics education.
József Kupcsik was succeeded as director in 1996 by professor Dr. József Veress, whose most important task was to develop the program of economist education at the university level and to launch university training.
With the support of the Accreditation Committee and the Scientific Council for Higher Education, Széchenyi István College, our institution, took a pioneering step in Hungarian education. It became the first to launch a university-level business administration program, initially as additional training. Since autumn 2001, we have accepted five-year, 10-semester full-time university economists. In 1999, we introduced college-level international relations, followed by the International Communication major in 2002.
On January 1, 2002, Széchenyi István College transformed into a University, a testament to our continuous growth and development. Two faculties (Faculty of Technical Sciences, Law, and Economics) were established in connection with this transformation. József Veress, who played a crucial role in the university's development, was replaced as dean's chair by professor Dr. János Rechnitzer. His name is associated with the accreditation of the Doctoral School, the establishment of four bachelor's and three master's programs, and the establishment of an independent faculty.
In 2004, the Multidisciplinary Doctoral School of Social Sciences, entitled "Economy, Law, Regionality and Society in an Integrating Central Europe," was launched. The doctoral school and the related research program aim to explore the future directions of cooperation in the Central European region, the factors encouraging and hindering them, and the conditions for embedding economic, social, and institutional relations. The branch of law was separated from doctoral training on September 1, 2008, and the Doctoral School of Regional and Economic Sciences continues to operate at the Faculty.
The bachelor's program started in 2006 with four new majors: Business Administration and Management full-time and distance learning, Trade and Marketing, Public Service and International Studies, the latter three full-time and correspondence courses.
Our Faculty continued to grow and expand its offerings. In 2008, we launched three master's programs: Regional and Environmental Economics, International Economics and Management, and Marketing, Management and Organization. We added Logistics Management in 2010. All four majors are offered full-time, and correspondence is offered; the Marketing degree program has been offered full-time in English since 2010.
From January 1, 2007, the Faculty of Law and Economics was transformed into two faculties. The Gyula Kautz Faculty of Economics had five departments and the Centre for Foreign Language Education. (The current organizational units can be seen under the menu item "organization.")
Following the appointment of János Rechnitzer as Vice-Rector, Dr. Katalin Solt was acting dean of the Faculty from September 2008 to June 2013, followed by professor Dr. László Józsa from January 1, 2009, to June 30, 2013.
