The Experiences Of The Center For Public Affairs Studies In Education For European Administration

The “Corvinus” University of Budapest is one of the largest and most prestigious institutions of higher education in Hungary. Historically, the graduates of the university were called upon to serve as top and middle-level public officials in the central government of Hungary, as well as in various national public authorities. However, the study of public policy making and public management, in the form and content as developed in Western countries, were not a component of the Hungarian higher education. Realizing this gap in the Hungarian higher education and building on its existing faculty, the university decided to offer degrees in public policy and management. From the beginning the purpose is to develop an educational program with a standard of academic excellence matching its leading European and American counterparts. This strong emphasis on quality shaped the early selection of faculty and the first steps of implementation. In the fall of 1991 the Center for Public Affairs Studies was established to initiate graduate and post-graduate education in public policy, public administration and management. The main task of the Center is to create, organize and coordinate coherent educational and training programs as well as initiate and commission research concerning public sector. The Center has rapidly gained recognition in the international academic community. The paper describes the successes of the Center in developing educational programs for European Public Administration and analyses the difficulties the Center faced in the last twenty years.