Interview with Director of ESSCA Budapest dr. Zsuzsa Deli-Gray

We conducted an exclusive interview with Dr. Zsuzsa Deli-Gray, Director of ESSCA Budapest. The French university’s campus in Hungary is a success story, but a lot of work has gone into it over the past 30 years. ESSCA’s presence in Hungary is raising the standard of higher education.

Daily News Hungary (DNH): First of all, please tell us a bit about yourself. I heard that you have already spent more than 20 years at ESSCA.

Dr. Zsuzsa Deli-Gray: Indeed, this year, it has been exactly 24 years since the then-Head of the Budapest Campus of ESSCA contacted me and invited me to teach a course on international marketing to students of ESSCA in English. At that time, I was working on my doctoral thesis as well as teaching several subjects in Hungarian and in English at the university where I was employed as an assistant professor.

Every year, more and more courses were entrusted to me at ESSCA and after a few years, I was asked if I was interested in working full time at ESSCA. Since I liked the School’s value system, the applied methodologies, the colleagues and the students, I accepted the offer with great pleasure. I started to work at the School as programme director and I have been working in this position for seven years. In 2013, the school entrusted me with the entire management of the Budapest Campus therefore I have been participating in the life of the school as the director of the Campus for ten years.

DNH: For those who are not familiar with ESSCA, how would you describe the university with your own words? 

Dr. Zsuzsa Deli-Gray: The ESSCA School of Management has been founded in 1909 in Angers. It has ten Campuses, 6 in France, 1 in Hungary, 1 in China, 1 in Spain and 1 in Luxembourg. The excellence of the School as well as its academic programmes have been acknowledged by several international accreditation bodies. The ESSCA is amongst the very few schools who obtained the triple crown, such as the EQUIS, the AMBA and the AACSB accreditations. ESSCA has been a member of the Conférence des Grandes Écoles since 1977 and has also been annually ranked in the list of the Financial Times.

DNH: The Budapest campus was founded in 1993. What milestones have you achieved during the 30 years of operation? What level of education do you currently provide?

Dr. Zsuzsa Deli-Gray: We are celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the Budapest Campus this year. We opened the Campus with forty-one students in 1993 and today, we welcome approximately 800 students every year. These statistics show that there is an increasing number of academic programmes proposed at our Campus and that there is a growing interest in studying at our School at all levels.

In 2020, we launched a new bachelor level programme (Bachelor in International Management) with a “International Business Developer” specialisation and in 2022, a new master level programme (Master in Management) with a “Purchasing and Supply Chain Management” specialisation. We have students enrolled in these programmes from all over the world and they are all looking forward to obtaining the ESSCA degree which is highly valued worldwide. During their studies, all students have to complete several internships and at least one semester abroad.

DNH: How does ESSCA stand out from other competing universities in Hungary? Why should a prospective student choose ESSCA?

Dr. Zsuzsa Deli-Gray: I am very much convinced that ESSCA proposes to all students who are interested in Economics, Management, Finance, Marketing or HR the best possible learning conditions and a precious and valuable degree.

ESSCA is the only school in Hungary which possesses the accreditation of the three most prestigious accreditation bodies, that I have already mentioned. These accreditations guarantee the quality of the studies and the degree of ESSCA.

The School emphasises the professional combination of comprehensive academic knowledge that the professors share with the students and up-to-date practical activities and projects. All professors of ESSCA are trained by our “Advanced Pedagogical Institute” on how to use innovative, creative methods in their teaching practices. The classes are held in classrooms which are equipped by the highest technological equipment.

All of our students have adult tutors throughout their studies that help in guiding them on their professional path as well as their learning methods. We know all of our students by name, by interest and challenging areas and thus they are able to feel as if they were part of a large family.

During these last years, ESSCA reorganised its activities along the principles of sustainable development and it proposes many CSR activities to its students and colleagues. Humanistic values are in the centre of operations at ESSCA.

There are many other areas that we could mention but I think that you see that the ESSCA Campuses are special places where both students and professors as well as the team members like to be at.

DNH: How many students are currently enrolled at the institution? What is the ratio of Hungarian undergraduates to foreigners? Where do most international students come from?

Dr. Zsuzsa Deli-Gray: The Budapest Campus welcomes approximately 800 students per year who come from all over the world. There are representatives of approximately thirty-five different countries in the study groups ever year. The percentage of the Hungarian undergraduates increases year by year.

DNH: What specific criteria do you use when hiring new faculty members?

Dr. Zsuzsa Deli-Gray: When recruiting a new faculty member, we have a look at the candidates’ teaching and research experiences, methods and results as well as their vision for their professional career. We have approximately two hundred candidates for each position and we try to select the best ones who will prepare our students for their professional future. We look for new faculty members who have a PhD degree, who are involved in research projects which contribute to the development of their discipline and whose results can be incorporated into the teaching materials, who are teaching in an innovative way, who are able to professionally tutor students, whose personality fits into the value system of ESSCA and who have international experiences.

DNH: Your international admission procedure for the bachelor programme is quite unique because it is not based solely on admission points. Can you describe your method?

Dr. Zsuzsa Deli-Gray: During the international admission procedure, we try to find out whether ESSCA and the programme the students apply for is the right choice for them. We also aim to assess whether or not a candidate would be able to learn and apply the competences we teach during the programme.

Candidates can apply by filling out an online questionnaire about their reasons for applying and plans for the future. After the application form is submitted, the candidate is invited for an interview where his/her debating, management, listening, planning and communication skills are evaluated. We use creative ways of finding out more about the candidates in order to make the process relaxed and inspiring. Thus, the secondary school results are important for us; however, when making our decision about the applications, we also take into consideration the students’ preparedness for a management school as well as their personality.

DNH: Let’s also briefly talk about tuition fees and possible scholarships and grants.

Dr. Zsuzsa Deli-Gray: ESSCA is well-known for its aim to help all talented young students who wish to study at our School. Thus, after identifying the tuition fees for the forthcoming year, ESSCA is defining what grants it offers for the students based on the annual revenue of their parents. The school also offers excellence scholarships for those whose academic results were very good, and we also offer early bird reductions if candidates apply before the end of January.

DNH: Attracting foreign students to Budapest also boosts the image of Hungary. Based on previous feedback, what is the foreign students’ perception of the country?

Dr. Zsuzsa Deli-Gray: Well, it depends on where the candidates come from. Those who come from Europe know more or less what they should expect from a European capital. Those candidates who come from different continents recall different feelings they had when they opted for Budapest. They all say that based on what they heard about Budapest, they were convinced that it was an exotic place where people are ready for new challenges and aren’t afraid to have open discussions.

After their arrival, they realise very quickly how beautiful Budapest is, how friendly people are, how many options they have if they wish to visit a theatre or museum, to go out or to visit the neighbouring countries. They appreciate the feeling of safety as well as the cleanliness of the roads. On top of this, they meet interesting and nice people (classmates and teachers) at our Campus which makes the experience much more pleasant.

DNH: We’re convinced that our readers would also be interested in what you think about the skills a good leader in education should have.

Dr. Zsuzsa Deli-Gray: It is important that a leader has in-depth and well-established management skills. By this, I am not only referring to management and organisational skills but to strategic, financial, psychological, sociological, communication and several other skills as well. Creativity and innovativeness are also essential as they allow you to stay ahead of your competition and have unique, well-distinguishable results.

Competence in risk assessment is similarly important, enabling a leader to realistically and rationally analyse individual situations, opportunities or even danger zones and develop efficient and effective solutions. Proficiency in international settings and the ability to understand and integrate various viewpoints are also indispensable competences in management.

I would also emphasise the importance of perseverance, and that a leader should be able to stand up for and loyally represent the interests of the institution he/she works for. Precision and the ability to identify synergy can greatly support the planning, organisation and control processes. I could list several other things as well but without the aforementioned skills, it is difficult to achieve success and produce results in any industry.

Also we made an interview with Anthony Radev, President of Corvinus about model-changing, foreign students and new campus, read answers HERE.