History

The Budapest Business School (BBS) was officially established on January 1, 2001 as a result of three previously independent colleges, the College of Commerce, Catering and Tourism, the College of International Management and Business and the College of Finance and Accountancy (CFA) having been integrated into one large higher educational institute. These formerly separate colleges have become part of the Budapest Business School. Each of them does, at the same time, have a long history of its own.
The history of our college started with the establishment of the Kassa Trade Academy, followed by the founding in 1857 of the Pest Trade School. Strictly speaking, though, 1953 should be considered the actual date of its establishment. The history of the College was brought to a temporary short halt between 1959 and 1962, a time of budgetary constraints resulting in three-years' suspended teaching at the College. In 1962 training courses were re-launched and the school eventually obtained its current name, College of Finance and Accountancy, in the 1970/71 academic year. By then the College was situated at its current location, Buzonyány utca in a quiet and leafy district of Budapest. The College set up satellite institutes in other regions of the country, in Zalaegerszeg and in Salgótarján in 1971 and 1972 respectively. Training programmes in those two regional institutes are identical with those offered by our college in Budapest, though by now the Zalegerszeg Institute has become a separate college also belonging to BBS.

The process of joining the European Higher Education Area, commonly known as the Bologna process, has also been launched in the Hungarian higher education, also bringing about a great change in the life of our Faculty. More specifically, a Bachelor's degree (BA or BSc) can be obtained as part of the first training cycle, i.e. undergraduate courses, while in the next training cycle, i.e. graduate courses, a Master's degree (MA or MSc) can be obtained. CFA also offers short-cycle programmes for secondary school leavers who, upon completing their studies, can start work in their respective fields or continue their studies at the college. Besides these you can find a wide choice of programmes in specialized lines of training or specific courses providing alternatives in further education.