Be More with Erasmus - BME
International Success at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Introducing the Budapest University of Technology and Economics' mobility project.
The name of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) has long been synonymous with top achievements in domestic engineering education and scientific life, but in recent years, the institution has also stepped up a level in the international educational space. In 2026, they were awarded the Erasmus+ Excellence Award for their outstanding results achieved in mobility programmes. Implemented between 2023 and 2025, the awarded Erasmus+ mobility project aimed to increase international activity and expand the global network of relations - efforts that directly contribute to strengthening the visibility and international appeal of the University of Technology. Dr Bíbor Klekner, Director of the Directorate for International Relations and Erasmus+ Institutional Coordinator, and Teréz Seregi, Head of the International Mobility Programmes Office, spoke about the spectacular growth, the introduced green initiatives, and the new gateways opening up to the world.
"Be More with Erasmus" - focusing on strengthening international dimensions
Although BME has a vast history in student exchange programmes, the past two years have nevertheless brought fundamental innovations and unprecedented success. Not only did the number of incoming foreign youth surge, but a large number of mobilities was also realized among outgoing domestic students and university staff.
"In these two years, we managed to finally implement several processes that had already been initiated earlier: we launched our promotional campaign, visited all the faculties, and established the steps for completely electronic, paperless administration of grant agreements." - points out Dr Bíbor Klekner regarding the most important milestones. She added that thanks to the supplementary funding, they had significantly more opportunities to increase participation in the programmes and to pursue internationalization goals more resolutely.
The university’s creative promotional campaign played a key role in boosting student enthusiasm, culminating in a slogan and blogger competition. Students submitted 38 slogan ideas, among which, based on public votes, "BME - Be More with Erasmus" became the winner. This sentence has since become a core element of the entire university communication.
The students selected from the 28 submitted blogger entries - including a student from the University of Technology studying in Japan and another in Finland - provided experience reports on a weekly basis. Thanks to the posts, the follower base of the created BME Erasmus Instagram sub-page grew within a short time. The active involvement of the students has proven to bring greater engagement and tangible interest across the whole university.
Beyond the traditional information days, they introduced the highly popular Erasmus MeetUp events, where students preparing to travel out and foreign students currently staying at BME can directly exchange experiences.
Explosive growth in staff mobility
One of the most surprising and spectacular successes of the project was demonstrated in staff and teaching mobilities: the headcount jumped from 20 to 571.
"This growth is the result of a conscious strategic decision by senior management, which highlighted the importance of gaining international experience and establishing new connections that serve as the basis for future research and educational cooperation,"- says Teréz Seregi. The office staff personally visited the faculties, held presentations at every faculty council, and addressed educators through direct email campaigns. They made the application process continuous, which broke down bureaucratic barriers. The results speak for themselves: the initial headcount of 20 outgoing staff rose more than twentyfold by the end of the project.
Global citizens on campus
The international appeal of BME is faithfully reflected by the fact that during the project period, they welcomed 1,253 incoming students from more than 40 countries around the world. The university made all English-language courses available to them, and their integration is supported by a professionally organized mentor network.
"Foreign students get to know the campus and the Neptun system (for academic administration) during dedicated orientation days, and they even receive tips on where to eat at a good price in the area. The weekly events guarantee that incoming young people truly feel at home in Budapest," recounts Dr Bíbor Klekner.
The university's first own Erasmus Staff Week event was also an outstanding milestone in increasing international visibility. Higher education professionals from 11 universities across 7 countries arrived to exchange ideas on promoting mobility and internationalization strategies. In parallel, representatives of the university participated in global education fairs from South America, through Central Asia, Indonesia, and China, all the way to the EAIE Higher education exhibition in Gothenburg. The face-to-face negotiations resulted in new partnership agreements outside Europe, and highly popular destinations operating with university-level quotas opened up to BME students, such as South Korean, Japanese (Waseda, Saitama, Hokkaido), Canadian, Malaysian, or Swiss institutions, as well as NUS in Singapore, which regularly sees a fivefold over-application.
Green travel and paperless revolution
The university paid special attention to ensuring that its operations comply with the strict environmental consciousness and equal opportunities requirements of the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE). Their most important innovation in the field of administration was the introduction of completely paperless processing.
"n 2023, we began to gradually introduce the grant agreement process operating with fully electronic signatures, which required numerous consultations with the finance department, colleagues from the academic office, and document management administrators. Thanks to their flexibility, we no longer had to print out the agreements in four copies for the 686 outgoing participants; instead, the process became manageable online," highlights Dr Bíbor Klekner regarding the sustainability efforts.
In parallel, they also made the use of the Online Learning Agreement mandatory for outgoing participants within the EU. For the pioneering introduction of electronic processes, the university also won the prestigious international EWP-ESCI (European Student Card Initiative Champion in Erasmus Without Paper) award, which they were very pleased about.
The green approach also appeared in the organization of travel. "Thanks to the supplementary grants, we also financially support environmentally friendly modes of travel through the opportunities provided by the project. For example, where we already had the budget, we provided more travel days, thereby encouraging students to choose an environmentally conscious, sustainable mode of transport," recounts Teréz Seregi.
In addition, in the spirit of equal opportunities, around 40% of outgoing participants received supplementary funding intended for students with fewer opportunities, the acquisition of which was facilitated through personalized counselling and the involvement of the university student representation.
Which achievement is the university most proud of?
According to the project implementers, the good practices experimented with by BME - such as the Erasmus Staff Week for deepening partnerships, or the Erasmus MeetUp bringing students together – can also serve as a model for other universities. They are particularly proud that the success of their electronic contracting system has already exerted a positive impact on the digitalization of other internal university processes as well. It is no lesser merit that the Tempus Public Foundation recognized the institutional coordinator's work with the Master Coordinator Award.
Concluding the interview, Dr Bíbor Klekner summarized with emotion and pride:
Winning the Excellence Award means to us that the lots of effort and invested energy have finally truly become visible and recognized. The enthusiasm of our handful of a team is unbroken, and with this award, we can perhaps better draw the attention of the university's leaders and colleagues to the wonderful opportunities inherent in the Erasmus+ programme.