Macroeconomic indicators and student mobility: a case study of the African countries most actively involved in FAO student mobility

The internationalization of higher education is one of the most current topics related to education today. The number of foreign students in major higher education institutions is increasing, and international collaborations in the field of education and research are becoming more frequent. Even though the topic is so tangible in proximity, still little is known about the process of internationalization of higher education and the factors that support and hinder the phenomenon. The theoretical significance of this study is the regression analysis of the revealed literature and statistical data, while the practical significance is the possible comparative study of the research carried out in the international context depending on the number of FAO scholarship students coming to Hungary from African countries. The study covers 12 years of mobilities from 2008 to 2020. The study presents the distribution of FAO scholarship students arriving in Hungary from African countries and analyses a correlation between macroeconomic indicators, student mobility and the likelihood of international migration regarding sending African countries, using linear regression analysis and SPSS as a statistical method. For this analysis the data from the ILOSTAT Database has been used. The result of the study is that there are correlations between indicators in only a few cases, such as the HDI and MPI index of the African countries and GDP per capita. The GDP per capita has really strong positive correlation with the HDI index. There is a medium correlation between agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP) and the employment in agriculture in the examined African countries. Also, our results suggest there is a moderately strong negative correlation between MPI index and GDP per capita.

Analysis of the Hungarian investment funds along economic cycles

As a result of the 2008 financial crisis, the international financial system underwent a fundamental change. The crisis has highlighted various weaknesses in the economic system. One of these weaknesses was the unregulated nature of investment markets and their inefficient structural structure. Funds managed by investment fund managers have also been hit hard by the crisis. In the post-crisis period of 2008, there was a dynamic economic boom, which also affected the types of investment funds and their changes. However, the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 onwards is a special crisis. Its unique nature is reflected in the fact that financial markets have remained stable under the influence of central banks. This, in turn, did not necessarily affect the investment market, and in particular investment funds, as expected in the event of a downturn. In our research, we illustrate the change of investment funds along economic cycles through the quantitative changes of Hungarian investment funds. In our analysis, we illustrate the evolution of fund changes through hierarchical cluster analyzes. In the course of our research, we found that Hungarian investment funds move in line with market and retail investment trends, and the structure of investment funds does not show a significant change during the sixteen years examined, regardless of changes in economic cycles.

Sustainability aspects of distance learning in higher education during the COVID-19 epidemic in a Hungarian University

Our paper explores the impacts and sustainability of remote and online education framework introduced as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic in the case of two subjects (Macroeconomics and International Economics) taught at the Faculty of Commerce, Hospitality and Tourism, Budapest Business School. In our study we focused on specific aspects of shifting from traditional in-class learning to online education at our university. The most important pillars of the shift were the online implementation of all lessons, communication and examinations. We analyzed the measures of the education change, the effects of the change on the final results of the students and introduced the experiences of our students and teachers in this period, reflecting on the principles of sustainability. The primary data required for the analysis were diaries maintained by teachers and information available through the electronic study systems supporting online learning (CooSpace, Neptun), as well as student and teacher questionnaires and teacher interviews. The results for both subjects show that, despite the unmodified difficulty level of the exam questions, student performance improved during the remote learning period, that is, the learning process complies with the principles of sustainability. The implications of the study are therefore as follows: the coronavirus changed the educational framework of our university; the performance of students improved on both subjects; preparation time for teachers has increased, exam preparation time for students has also increased; consequently, online solutions used in distance learning period have changed the attitudes of the students and teachers as well. In the absence of personal feedback opportunities, regular monitoring tools were positively received by students, however, digital inequalities and previously less common tasks were more challenging for them. The experiences of the first semester affected by the epidemic were and can be utilized in later semesters as well.

Examining the effectiveness of fundamental analysis in a long-term stock portfolio

Over the past decade, a number of modern and sophisticated methods have been developed to optimize the composition of equity portfolios. Most of these methods are based on complex mathematical or financial modelling. Less emphasis has been placed on companies’ internal data, while in recent years external data have become increasingly important. However, for long-term investments, the dominance of external data is not necessarily an efficient way to construct an appropriate portfolio. In this paper, we highlight the phenomenon that complex mathematical models, the based on simpler fundamental indicators can also be an efficient investment tool for in making investment decisions. Our results show that our hypothesis has been confirmed that some basic-based indicators can achieve alpha returns. Our analysis is based on financial reporting data in the form of various financial indicators. We used the S&P500 index as benchmark. A comparative analysis of the stock portfolio created illustrates that basic analysis can be more effective than a chosen market-based stock index. By the end of the period under review, the portfolio based on the selected five core financial indicators had a market capitalization 1.68% higher than the benchmark. The alpha return achieved also demonstrates that even simpler models can be efficient and effective in creating an equity portfolio.

Trends of standard of living preferences of economics university students as a result of the economic crisis

One of today’s central subject ranges is the theme of personal financial decisions. Standard of living preferences are also closely related to these. The generation that will soon enter the labor market still has these questions in front of them. This is the reason why we focused on university students in our study. We asked Hungarian, Austrian, and Slovak economics students in our questionnaire research. We conducted the study in 2 successive years, in the autumn of 2019 and the autumn of 2020. The first phase of the coronavirus pandemic happened between the two occasions. We examined the received responses along the lines of demographic variables, with the application of linear modelling and decision trees. The year was proven to be the most important variable, which indicates that the crisis caused by the coronavirus had a significant effect on the ideas of students regarding a better standard of living. Our results not only highlight the importance of financial literacy, but also show that personal opinions transform in a crisis regarding the criteria that embody a higher standard of living. It appears that a severe economic crisis increases the sense of responsibility and the importance of future security. Of course, because of the short time that passed, the practical verification of our findings will have to wait.

The impact of global socio-economic changes on the regional role of universities

Economic and regional development and rapid, often unpredictable changes across the globe in technical fields have an effect on everything, including universities, training, research and services as well. Universities must find their place in this continuously changing environment, they need to continuously reinterpret themselves and their own roles, whilst ensuring that education and knowledge transfer take priority. The pace of change is increasingly accelerating with technological novelties and innovations by high-tech industries surpassing themselves at an astounding rate. Therefore, knowledge, as the facilitator and creator of these results, plays an increasingly important role for those who wish to rank among the winners of the competition both locally and globally. Today, the primary creators of knowledge are still educational institutions, and universities are the fundamental platforms of research. However, it is not enough to be «only» a university, they must educate and research and become part of the developed world alongside participants who would like to provide scientific answers to practical problems. In our paper we address the question of breaking points along which the role of universities can be transformed in order to remain open to the needs of both their narrower and wider environment while maintaining their fundamental mission, thus becoming successful players on the global stage. The development of high-tech industries has resulted in a science-driven period when economic development is unimaginable without the scientific results and the interconnection of individual disciplines. This development will presumably lead to the deterioration of certain individual knowledge and the deepening of others. Higher education must also adapt to this with the development of an education system that strengthens digital skills and serves regional expectations. Nowadays entrepreneurial universities have emerged, which are able to operate with an entrepreneurial approach, thereby responding independently to challenges from outside. The ability to co-operate must be a key aspect of university existence, and the deepening of educational, research and business partnerships is a prerequisite for success. In order to spread management approach and create an entrepreneurial ecosystem, successful R&D work and innovation, it is also necessary to involve external, tender resources and grants, besides own resources. However, these resources need to be used well, but the lack of a pre-planned, conscious strategy results in less efficient use. Regional cooperation, common thinking, training and innovation, science workshops and science parks all contribute to the development of institutions and related regions.

Factors affecting the market of household bank deposits in Ukraine

Ukraine currently needs additional investment resources in order to revitalize and develop the economy. The main objective of the study is to determine the regularities, peculiarities behind the formation of organized population’s savings and assess the factors influencing the development of this market in order to improve the quality of its management and use of the potential of domestic investment resources for economic recovery and growth in Ukraine. In order to compare the trends as for the accumulation of savings through deposit investment, the authors analyzed the impact of major factors on these processes in Ukraine and Czech Republic. The main results of the study encompass improved approaches to determining the impact of the system of factors on household deposits based on correlation-regression analysis. This makes it possible to optimize the choice of tools for effective management of deposit resources; further elaborate the approaches to assessing the level of domestic household deposits as well as allows substantiating the directions of implementation of the state policy in the context of ensuring the further development on the market of bank deposit services.

Exchange rate impacts on international trade

As international trade activities are increased, there are more regulative practices which might be barriers to trade. One of such hindrances is exchange rate volatility that affects trade activities both directly and indirectly. Exchange rate volatility of currencies can affect the trade engagements and as well as the trade balance of a country. One of the implications of the study is that the impacts of monetary policy changes on trade activities can be noticed significantly in the long-term. While impacts on export levels are usually immediate, import levels are changed in long-run. The research analyzes the correlation between inflation and devaluation and clearly states their impacts on trade balance. The case study about devaluation of the currency of Azerbaijan elaborates the impacts of currency volatility on exports which is illustrated and analyzed in this research. Moreover, inflation and devaluation correlations and their impacts on import level of a country are studied through correlation and multiple regression analyses based on the data exported from OECD and World Bank. The results conclude that exchange rate volatility significantly impacts the trade balance in terms of imports and exports. Given the results, exchange rate is a non-trade barrier and affects foreign trade.

Modes of Islamic financing and aggregate economic output: evidence from Islamic banking industry of Pakistan

With the evolution of Islamic banking, the economic impact of Islamic finance has been studied by many authors. Islamic banks significantly differ from conventional banks in terms of underlying contracts. The asset side of Islamic banks is composed of different modes of financing, which can be categorized at participatory and non-participatory modes of financing. This study aims to examine the relationship of modes of Islamic financing in connection to the real economic output of Pakistan. Using quarterly data from 2005 to 2019, we use autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) model to analyze the impact of modes of Islamic financing and industrial output. Our findings reveal that non-participatory modes of Islamic financing play a significant role in deriving a healthy aggregate economic output. Therefore, Industrial production found to have a significant positive long run relationship with non-participatory Islamic financing. However, financing modes based on partnership does not have significant impact on total industrial production. The results also show that poor asset quality hinders the production process in the long run and decreases the economic outcome.

Rationalization of network retail management with a shift trading function based on the mathematical description of processes in the mass service area

The authors highlight the high priority of rationalization in the management of the totality of transactions carried out in the sphere of network retail, in close contact with the service consumer. For network retail objects with a shift trading function, it is important to implement a direct and permanent impact, both on the system structure and on the basic processes in the area of mass trade services. This impact focuses on studying the flow of requests, service inputs and outputs of the system, as well as the length of waiting times, and the length of queues. The success of development in such retail networks depends on the flexibility of the operations performed by the contractor in close contact with the service consumer. It is envisaged to consider peculiarities in the rationalization of network retail management with trade turnover (flexibility) functions. The latter define the structure of the service delivery system for service consumers with processes running, in which client demands for services, as defined in the income chain, even though the intensity of the customer service flow is not constant. The purpose of the research is to present the informative field for rationalization in network retail management with the function of shifting trade, based on the mathematical description and repeated «playing» of all processes within the area of mass service. To represent the informative area for rationalization in network retail management with a shift trading function based on a mathematical description and repeated play of all processes within the public service area, Methods of probability theory and mathematical statistics have been used, as well as cloud computing in AnyLogic Claud environment, AnyLogic service. The results of the study was the presentation of new possibilities for rationalizing network retail management by groups of network objects based on the concept of a mass service area, and in view of the fact that there is an n-channel system of mass service with an unlimited queue, where the request flow has the intensity λ, and the service flow is the intensity μ. The study was implemented with the example of one of the hubs Walmart-Salvador, uniting 90 supermarkets of the company. All Walmart hubs combine only the same supermarket type, supporting the trade changeover function within a single graph (half-yearly). Similar Walmart hubs are developed in Mexico, Great Britain, Brazil, China, Canada, South Africa, Chile, Japan, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Argentina, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Ukraine. At the same time, all network nodes contain objects that apply multi-channel service systems, most common in the network retail with an unlimited queue and an option to add a new service node. It is the Walmart-Salvador hub that has a fairly high percentage of customers’ refusals due to the busy service devices (this estimate ranging from 19% to 25%). As a result, Walmart’s lost annual profit reaches up to USD 25.5 million approximately. The rationalization in the management of the network retail for the Walmart-Salvador hub objects is implemented with a breakdown into 8 groups, united according to common input parameters, the latter providing a solution for the optimal number of service devices, and their required reserve and runoff are calculated, as well as efficient productivity resulting from the consistency of the input and output flows in the service channel and the stability in the mass service system. At the same time, programming for solving the problem of the management rationalization is realized using rate fixing for the basic processes in the area of mass service. In this way, mass service system sustainability is ensured, with the average timing for the application staying in the mass service system being crucial. In particular, implementing such a standard could allow avoiding losses caused by waiting for servicing and unproductive ones. Among other relevant factors are: associated timing, probability or other values (necessary for transformation operations in the characteristics of the mass service area, performed for generating target values of this indicator). Perspectives of implementing the mathematical description of the processes in a mass-service area are in the fact that it will provide for significantly simplification in the processes of rationalizing the retail management in shift-trading facilities, regardless of the frequency of quantity and quality product range changes.