About the School

CEU Business School and George Soros

CEU Business School was founded in Budapest in 1988 by a group of visionary leaders headed by legendary investor and philanthropist George Soros.

In 2011, we are rapidly emerging under our new leadership. With assistance from an endowment 3x the per-student value of that possessed by Oxford and Cambridge, we offer a program which is uniquely relevant for today's challenges, and which is offered at a highly subsidized tuition rate.

CEU Business School was the first educational institution in the Central-Eastern Europe region to train managers by offering a western graduate business program leading to an American MBA. Since its inception, the school has pursued the goal of developing standards in line with Western institutions, while ensuring timely and relevant consideration of the changes within the region’s transforming economies.

We believe, along with George Soros, that the world needs managers capable of dealing with rapidly changing environments and appreciating the impact of their actions on the business, social, and natural environment. Thus, the mission has evolved to a more global one focused on emerging economies as a particular opportunity to impact new managers and how they influence our future.

A global financier and philanthropist, George Soros is the founder and chairman of a network of foundations that promote the creation of open, democratic societies, based upon the rule of law, market economies, transparent and accountable governance, freedom of the press and respect for human rights. CEU's diverse activities including top-education, world-class research and influential international conferences are a key pillar in this mission to build open societies worldwide.

Every year, Mr. Soros attends the CEU Graduation Ceremony to personally hand over the Diplomas to all students graduating and is active as an advisor, advocate and guest lecturer.

We Focus on Transnational Leadership and Emerging Markets in a Uniquely International Environment

CEU Business School offers various programs, including a Full-time MBA, an Executive MBA (part-time), several tailored Executive Education Programs, and, together with three other top-flight global Business Schools, offers the International Masters in Management (IMM) Executive MBA which has been ranked #1 in “International Course Experience” and #2 in "Career Advancement" by Financial Times in their 2010 worldwide EMBA-Ranking.

Our MBA’s unique year-long Transnational Leader course empowers you (as a future manager) to lead a rapid, multi-cultural and transnational process of change. It covers a broad range of subjects including the political environment of business, critical thinking, transnational negotiation, and transnational strategies and focusses on developing your skills to rigorously analyze this process of change and develop creative solutions.

CEU Business School’s faculty and students are truly international, with the 2010 MBA class comprising of 35 people from 21 nations on 5 continents and not a single dominant nationality. Across all CEU programs, people from more than 100 nations are present on campus.

Accreditation

Central European University (CEU) is organized as an American graduate institution, governed by a Board of Trustees. It was incorporated in the State of New York. The university has an absolute charter from the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, for and on behalf of the New York State Education Department.
In the United States, CEU is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools: 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States. Phone: (1 215) 662 5606.

CEU Business School as an institution, and specifically its full-time and Executive MBA programs are accredited in Hungary by the Hungarian Adult Education Accrediting Body (in Hungarian, Felnőttképzési Akkreditáló Testület [FAT]). Based on the institutional and program accreditation documents, Central European University operates as an adult educational institution in Hungary. Our Adult Education Registration Number is 00871-2010, our Institutional Accreditation Registration Number is ALF-051.

As of September 2010 the full-time MBA program runs as a higher educational program of the Central European University N.Y. and the Közép-európai Egyetem operated by the CEU Business School.

CEU Business School's MBA programs are accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA), one of the three internationally recognized MBA/Business School accrediting agencies.

History at a Glance

Since its inception as “International Management Center” (IMC) in 1988, CEU Business School has evolved through three periods.

From 1988 to 1995 IMC students were taking their first-year courses in Budapest and moved to one of our partner schools in Western Europe and North America to complete their studies and receive their MBA diplomas.

From 1996 to 2001 IMC had been a franchise of Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland, Ohio.

Since 2002 we are officially recognized as the Business School of Central European University.

Professor Paul Marer reflects on CEU Business School's history and changing mission