CEU Business School

Age: 23

History: Founded by investor-philanthropist George Soros in 1988, it offered the first "western" MBA in central Europe, and was fully integrated into the Central European University (CEU), another Soros institution, in 2002. CEU is one of Europe's leading liberal arts research universities, chartered by the State of New York and accredited by the USA's Middle States Commission for Higher Education.

Address: Frankel Leo u. 30-34, 1023 Budapest, Hungary.

Ambience: Intimate and modern. The classrooms, faculty and administration are housed in a beautiful building near the Danube, which was renovated in 2005.

Vital statistics: There are 400 students and 50 full-time and part-time faculty members. Teaching is achieved through participative teamwork: the instructors are more coaches than lecturers. The school offers MBA and MSc programmes. The highly regarded international executive MBA – known as the IMM – is offered in partnership with Purdue (USA), Gisma (Germany) and TiasNimbas (the Netherlands).

Added value: The focus of the curriculum is developing leaders for the central and eastern European region and beyond. The careers service is strong, as many of the world's leading multinationals operate in Hungary: some have their regional or European headquarters in Budapest.

Easy to get into? For the MBA you'll need a good GMAT score, three years' of work experience (five years for the IMM) and proof of English proficiency. There's also a selection committee to impress.

Glittering alumni: Karoly Saloman, CEO, Allianz Hungary; Soon Hun An, deputy director, Ministry of Finance and Economy, South Korea.

Gurus: Stuart Durrant, real estate expert; Yusaf Akbar, management change and development in emerging markets; Gyorgy Bogel, author of six books and more than a 100 articles on corporate organisation and management, Eva Porras, Professor of Finance.

International connections: Exchange and “dual degree” programmes are available with some the world's leading business schools, including Emory (USA), York (Canada), Copenhagen Business School (Denmark) and CEIBS (China). The school has more than 1,200 alumni from 50 countries.

Student profile: On the full-time MBA, the vast majority come from outside Hungary. Average age is 26 with five years of work experience.

Cost: The full-time and executive MBA options are both €20,400. The international executive program is €52,000.

Return on investment: Graduates should be attractive to small and large companies alike.

Who's the boss? Mel Horwitch will become dean of CEU Business School on 1 January 2011 . Yusaf Akbar is the academic director of MBA programs.

Prospectus: +36 (0)1 887 5014; www.ceubusiness.org; info@ceubusiness.org