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Spotlight on DYC
DYC Education Benefits Hungarian Students
Originally published in D'Mensions, spring 2004.
Hungarian
university students who have participated in a special program that takes them
to American college and university campuses for additional studies is now benefiting
Hungarian businesses and other institutions.
The Calasanctius Training Program, created ten years ago in Buffalo, New York by two Hungarian men so Hungarian students could gain educational and real-life American experience that would not only help them professionally but also help their country is now bearing fruit for Hungary.
Under this unique program, certain colleges and universities allow students to earn both undergraduate and graduate degrees without paying tuition or room and board. Students must agree to return to Hungary to help their country in its continued business and social development. Master’s degrees in business and international business are popular fields of study for these students.
The program also encourages these young Christian professionals with strong ethical values to serve as leaders in their professions.
Today, a number of alumni from the program are working in banking, teaching, information technology and government, putting to use what they have learned both in Hungarian universities and U.S. institutions.
The program’s developers, Dr. Peter W. Forgach, a local eye surgeon with a practice in here and who escaped Hungary in 1956, and Balazs Borka, an electrical engineer who studied in the U.S. and lives in Hungary feel the program has been extremely successful and hope to expand it to more educational institutions in America. Through their efforts, more than 100 students from Hungary have attended U.S. colleges over the past decade.
Colleges outside of Western New York participating in the program include John Carroll University in Cleveland, Christendom College in Virginia, St. John’s University in New York and Regis University in Denver.
The students who have returned to their home have high praise for the education they received from the U.S. College and the program.
Dr. Peter Balint, who earned his master’s degree in International Business at D’Youville College in Buffalo earned his law degree at Elte University in Budapest and today is head of the legal department at ING Bank Hungary, one the largest in the world. “My education at D’Youville College has had a major impact on my career and the three semesters I spent at D’Youville were one of my best experiences,” he says.
Reka Goebel, an executive with UNILEVER-Hungary, earned her Master’s of Business Administration at Niagara University, just outside of Buffalo, where she was voted Student of the Year in 1996 and received the highest grades since the Business School was founded.
Erzsebet Nemeth, Program Adviser to the President of the Republic of Hungary, attended Canisius College in Buffalo for her advanced degree and Zsofi Bakonyi attended another Buffalo college, Medaille, and is now a grade school teacher in Budapest. Nemeth’s brother Ivan attended D’Youville.
All agree their experience at the U.S. institutions were extremely valuable for both their professional and personal life and believe the Calasanctius Program will benefit future students from Hungary.
Currently, four such students are attending D’Youville College and the college plans to continue the program as part of its mission to reach out and help others.
“It was very gratifying and encouraging to see firsthand the results of the Calasanctius Program and how much the Hungarian students respected and liked their experience and education here in Western New York and the other participating institutions,” Bray said.
Dr. Mary E. Beadle, dean of the Graduate School at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio also attended the event and said that it is still a difficult economic and political situation in Hungary with high unemployment and former communists controlling politics. “However, among these students I found a very positive attitude and willingness to use their education to help their country and others. It is a part of the world that needs our support through education and I believe this is a part of our mission,” she said.