Tailored to the needs of North American computer science and software engineering undergraduates in their sophomore through senior years, AIT offers semester-long programs to bridge the gap between the world of academia and business. Classes are taught in English by eminent Hungarian professors, most of whom have had teaching experience in North American universities. 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. The academic program is based on a philosophy of small and intimate classes, close collaboration of students and faculty, and hands-on work through group projects.
The program is made up by four course groups, each containing several different course offerings:
Foundational Courses in Computer Science
Advanced Applications
Creative Design and Entrepreneurship
Humanities Courses Related to Hungary's rich cultural heritage
Students can select any combination of classes from the four main course groups. While the four groups contain classes in different areas of science, entrepreneurship and culture, the examples below illustrate how these are integrated within the AIT curriculum.
Example 1: Architectural Design Software
Students will learn about the mathematical foundations of 3D modeling.
Students will learn how to build a specific software product on that, such as 3D building modeling (BIM: Building Information Modeling). They will be confronted with the fact that less than 5% of such an application is dealing with 3D modeling, while the other 95% is indispensible in order to have a usable application.
Students will understand the implications of building and running a company to market such a product.
…and finally, as part of the humanities curriculum, students may learn about Central European architecture.
Example 2.: Computer Vision Applications for Digital Cinema
Students will learn math foundations about the subject, including Linear Filtering, Object and Class recognition, Gaussian Blur, Image Gradient, Normalized Cross Correlation, Harris Detector, and the like.
Students will learn the details and the operation of Colorfront’s technology relating to digital film post production.
Students will learn about the business model of Colorfront.
…and finally students may elect the Hungarian cinema course, including Hungarians’ significant contribution to developing Hollywood.
Example 3.: Computational Biology and Medicine
AIT offers foundational courses, like Data Mining and the Structure and Dynamics of Complex Networks
Students will learn about how to apply these theories to the complex task of decoding the human genome, and will become familiar with the IT challenges in computational biology and personalized medicine.
Students may learn about the business model of IT companies capitalizing on this emerging industry.
As part of Erno Rubik’s design class, students will be guided through the history of great Hungarian innovations, including our contribution to the field of medicine, from Ignaz Semmelweis (pioneer of antiseptic procedures) to Albert Szent-Györgyi (discoverer of vitamin C).
In addition, a diverse range of extracurricular activities are offered for exploring the historic heritage and contemporary cultural life of Budapest and the region. Prior to the academic program a 2-week long intensive Hungarian language course (not for credit) is also offered. This intensive language course is organized by a language school which charges a separate fee.
Courses are graded using the A/B/C/D/F grade system with + and - for in-between grades, or with "Audit". Students are expected to select academic courses with an average load of 16-20 contact hours a week.
Other Requirements
Hungarian language course required by Colby
