The Research Center for Social Sciences at King Sigismund College
When we asked young people what makes them feel good at a higher educational institution, or what had oriented them towards a specific college or university, we were surprised to hear that many of them emphasized proper research opportunities for students. We must immediately add that this unique attraction on behalf of young people to this area of academic work is a pleasant surprise. If an efficient and high-quality higher educational institution is the place parents want their child to attend, it is inevitable to put great emphasis on academic research. Open research workshops make higher education complete not only for faculty but for students as well.
King Sigismund College wants to assume a leading position in this respect as well: by way of developing the Research Center for Social Sciences (ZSKF TTK) it gives wide access to academic resarch opportunities for its teachers and students, be their chosen areas in the field of the humanities, social scicences or business and economics. This equally applies to BA and MA studens, as well as students in doctoral programs. This research environement enables the teachers and students to share and publish their academic results, which also increases their chances for successful applications. It is important to disseminate and use the research results in education, which also contributes to the academic and professional quality and efficiency of the school and its courses, and increases the value of its degrees on the labour market. The Research Center for Social Sciences provides services and public research opportunities, which enhances the democratic development of civil communities, but at the same time it operates as a business venture that undertakes social and market research (surveys) as well.
All these services are provided with the active help of students. Very good examples for this are the questionnaire survey carried out by our students at Sziget Festival in 2006, and our latest large-scale research project, which was launched in the fall of 2006. In this latter project we examine how graduates get along in life after they finish their studies, how they are received on the labour market, and what expectations are raised towards them by employers. In order to find answers to all these questions we have been conducting questionnaire surveys and interviews with our former students to ask them about expectations raised towards new graduates. Several thousands of graduates have been asked in the course of this survey, which is possible only with the active participation of our students in the project: they are our researchers, with some of them being the leading interviewers (the so-called "instructors" who organize and supervise the work of their fellow students), and many of them involved in the course of digital data processing and academic analysis as well.
Thus, the work the Center offers to ZSKF students is not only a source of income (of course that too, as they can add up to their pocket money with the help of these jobs), but also serious professional and academic work, practical training and opportunities for publishing.
A real "academic adventure" which you can also be part of!
