Connecticut's Quinnipiac University has grown from a small college founded in 1929 in a part of the United States that’s home to some of the top universities in the world, from Harvard and MIT in Boston, to Yale in New Haven, to Columbia and NYU in New York. Quinnipiac does not claim that its business school is in the same league as these institutions' business schools. There are some parts of the planet, however, where Quinnipiac's alumni are counted alongside those from the top five business schools in the world. One such place is Hungary.
That's because of QU's Central European Institute and its programs. The focus is on student exchanges, namely scholarships for students from Central Europe to come to QU for their MBA and then work in the U.S. before returning home. The MBA and work experience complement the students' theoretical European training with hands-on and soft skills best gained working for American companies. In addition, the QU MBA group visits Central Europe every year. There are also short visits for MBA groups from Hungary and Poland, hosted by QU.
Central Europe is a great niche market for QU. After all, everyone is in Asia these days. As is the case for manufacturing, the education market is commoditizing. QU has programs with Asia as well, which include summer MBA trips to China and a partnership leading to a number of Chinese MBA students coming to Quinnipiac every year. However, QU is just one of many participants in that market.
In Central Europe, QU it is one of fewer active U.S. universities and thus plays a more prominent role. In Hungary, for example, Quinnipiac is included among the Ivy League alumni groups, and its annual networking event attracts executives from all the top multinationals, local companies and political leaders. Its students have returned to work at some of the top companies in Europe, from
QU's Central European Institute's director is Christopher Ball, who lived in Hungary in the 1990s while working for the Hungarian Atlantic Council on Hungary’s NATO accession and also during his time as a research fellow at the Institute of Current World Affairs.
When Ball started in academia in 2003, he explained at all his interviews that he wanted to build programs with Hungary. Most schools already had international programs, or followed rigid academic constraints and advised Ball that he would have to get tenure before starting something. That's an initiative- killing approach, sure to keep enthusiastic doers away from any learning institution. Quinnipiac, on the other hand, jumped at the opportunity. Other schools should take note before they discourage candidates with bureaucratic protocols, and decline smart opportunities to raise their profiles.
The CEI is built around country-specific endowed chairs. The first chair was the István Széchenyi Chair in International Economics, established in 2008 to oversee relations with Hungary. The second chair was the Novak Family Polish Chair, established in 2014 to oversee relations with Poland. In each chair’s case, a private donor or collection of donors established an initial endowment and the university matched the donation.
In the longer run there are plans to expand the Central European Institute to include the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania. Which country is next depends on the interest of supporters in the U.S. and worldwide. "Our vision is a Central European Institute with an endowed chair for each nation in Central Europe, with similarly designed scholarships and programs in each country," says Ball.
