PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

Spend a semester or an academic year in beautiful Budapest, Hungary with undergraduates from colleges and universities across North America, studying mathematics with leading Hungarian scholars. Hungary has a long tradition of excellence in mathematics education. Founded in 1985 by friends of Paul Erdös, the BSM program encourages student creativity, a key element in the highly successful Hungarian method of mathematics instruction.

Program Highlights:

  • Small classes, taught in English by instructors with experience teaching North American students.

  • Credits are transferable to most North American colleges and universities

  • A great opportunity to join a community of mathematically motivated students.

  • Experience life in Budapest, a historically interesting and beautiful city with many cultural attractions and excellent public transportation.

Budapest Semesters in Mathematics Fall and Spring semesters comprise 14 weeks of teaching and exams. Each course usually meets three to four times per week for a total of 56 contact hours per semester. The Summer Program is seven weeks long, meets two hours per day, four days a week with the expectation that students will take two full-credit courses. One BSM course typically transfers either as 3 or 4 semester hours depending on an evaluation of course material done by the home institution.

BSM classes are held at the College International, a Hungarian-based educational institution. Classes are taught in English by eminent Hungarian scholars, most of whom have had teaching experience in North American universities. In keeping with Hungarian tradition, teachers closely monitor each individual student’s progress.  Considerable time is devoted to problem solving and encouraging student creativity. Emphasis is on depth of understanding rather than on the quantity of material. Courses may be taken Audit or Graded.

The imprint of the Hungarian tradition is particularly prominent in some of the courses.

  • “Combinatorics” concentrates on combinatorial structures and algorithms, a stronghold of Hungarian mathematics. The courses, along with “Theory of Computing”, are a valuable introduction to Theoretical Computer Science.

  • “Conjecture and Proof”, even more than other courses, introduces the student to the excitement of mathematical discovery. Concepts, methods, ideas, and paradoxes that have startled or puzzled mathematicians for centuries will be reinvented and examined under the guidance of enthusiastic and experienced instructors. The topics covered range from ancient problems of geometry and arithmetic to 20th century measure theory and mathematical logic.