Challenges in Higher Education Case: Bachelor Course in International Relations

Universities have always faced a number of challenges at the international, national and institutional levels and have always had to develop new strategies to overcome the difficulties. Recently internationalisation of universities is a key factor and, as evidence of the Széchenyi University?s strong commitment to internationalisation, from September 2019, twenty-four English-taught programmes at all academic levels are on offer.One of the courses is BA in International Relations. The undergraduate programme in International Relations is for individuals who are sensitive to global problems, open to other cultures, and are prepared to handle a broad range of evidence and analyse complex issues. It is a multidisciplinary programme which combines a wide range of courses in international relations, history, economics, political science, foreign languages, sociology and regional studies, among other disciplines. The programme trains the students to be well informed about generally accepted tendencies, characteristics and data on universal political, economic and cultural phenomena. They will thus have deeper insights into and understanding of relations of various nations and cultures.The purpose of this paper is (1) to describe the research conducted prior to the course development process, e.g. analysis of the new national requirements for the International Relations BA course, the curricula at international and national levels and the findings of a questionnaire-based research conducted among the former students at International Relations BA course. After presenting the preparatory process (2) the programme will be examined and discussed focusing on the aim and the content of the course, the structure of studies, the academic and language requirements.