On the basis of Resolution No. 2003/7/II./1/1 of the Hungarian Accreditation Committee (MAB), the Multidisciplinary Social Sciences Doctoral School at Széchenyi István University commenced its operations in February 2004, under the title ‘Economy, Law, Regionality and Society in Integrating Central Europe’. In 2007, the Faculty of Law and Economics was divided into the Kautz Gyula Faculty of Economics and the Deák Ferenc Faculty of Law and Political Sciences. The two faculties jointly operated the doctoral programme until 2008, after which — following the separation of the Doctoral School — the School has been operating under the name Doctoral School of Regional Sciences and Business Administration at the Kautz Gyula Faculty of Economics.

The School’s academic profile, which also defines its authority to award doctoral degrees, encompasses regional sciences as well as business and management sciences. A wide range of research topics is pursued across both disciplines. The Doctoral School supports students’ ambitions to explore research topics that best align with their individual interests within these fields. The business and management sciences programme includes a transdisciplinary specialisation, whose primary strength lies in enabling the comprehensive examination of certain topics across multiple academic disciplines. Transdisciplinarity is equally characteristic of the regional sciences programme, insofar as it encompasses not only classical regional science themes and methods but also research questions related to the spatial dimensions of all social sciences. The majority of applied regional science research is conducted at the Hungarian and Central European territorial scale.

Admission to the Doctoral School is recommended for those who wish to engage in in-depth research activity throughout their doctoral studies. During the first two years of the programme, students are provided with the theoretical and methodological foundations required to support scholarly research; at the same time, they are expected to begin integrating into the academic community, to participate in conferences, and to demonstrate initial research results. The first two years conclude with a comprehensive examination, upon successful completion of which students enter a phase focused entirely on the writing of their dissertation.