The economy of Mongolia is based on agriculture and mining, but the majority of the rural population still lives from animal husbandry and nomadic shepherding. The agreement signed on the Böszörményi Street campus on June 20 between the University of Debrecen and the Mongolian University of Life Sciences will serve the purpose of establishing links between future agricultural specialists from Mongolia and Hungary, as well as the economic development of the Asian country. Under the terms of the cooperation, 20 Hungarian and 20 Mongolian students will be able to obtain double degrees from among those in the the MBA (Master of Business Administration) programme in Ulaanbaatar and in the business development master’s programme in Debrecen.
“The University of Debrecen has very extensive external relations around the world, including with Mongolia, but this latter has not been very active so far. With this double degree programme, we are able to provide European-type answers to questions emerging in the Mongolian economy. There is continuous interest in the University of Debrecen from the Asian country, as there are already Mongolian students in our doctoral and master’s programmes”, said András Jávor, chief advisor to the rector.
The two universities have had contact for over 10 years, but due to the large distances very few students had a chance to study at the respective partner institution so far. The agreement now signed may provide new impetus.
“Currently having a student population of 9 thousand, our state university was originally founded in the 1950s, and we are the only institute of higher education in the country in the field of agricultural economics. We think that we can fill up the quota of 20 students already at the launch of the programme and hope that there will be opportunities for faculty exchange also in the future”, emphasised Mashir Erdenebayar, vice-president of the Mongolian University of Life Sciences.
This is already the second double-degree programme related to the business development master’s, since a similar agreement with JAMK University of Applied Sciences in Finland has been in place since 2011. The MBA programme was first launched at the University of Debrecen (at one of its legal predecessors, the Agricultural University of Debrecen, to be more precise) in 1989, as part of the international network AGRIMBA. The AVA Congress is the highest-level professional and academic event of AGRIMBA, which is held every two years at one of the members of the network, this year – for the second time – at the University of Debrecen.
“This network, which is unique in the world, has 25 partner institutions and 11 active MBA programmes from Asia to the Americas. In addition, it also has its own accreditation system, educational materials, as well as an independent academic journal, now celebrating the 10th anniversary of its foundation. The central topic of this year’s congress was the US presidential election and Brexit, as well as the impact of these events in economic and agricultural policy, but we will also discuss, among other things, how the ecological footprint of consumers appears in Europe”, said András Nábrádi, director of the Institute of Applied Economics Sciences at the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Debrecen.
More than 60 experts from 12 countries participated in the English-language congress. The topics of the papers presented at the break-out sessions included applied economics, management-IT, finance and accounting, rural development, tourism and sports management, as well as commerce and marketing.
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