Department of regional economics and rural development

Since the change of regime in 1990, the fundamental spatial factors and processes of the economy and society have changed considerably. The rural areas and settlements have been significantly affected by the changes, as well as the inhabitants living there. The challenge of adapting to this new situation has created new global and local opportunities. Perhaps one of the most important features of the fundamental changes has been the strengthening of rurality and the expansion of the economic and social context of locality creating new roles of rural values. Today, rural space is not just a place of food supply, but an area responsible for territorial development, new tasks, functions and dimensions.

At the same time, the development of regional science by the analysis of spatial processes has become an independent field in the social sciences. Through its organic development, it has attracted a number of spatial research fields including center and peripheral research, frontier research, territorial social analysis, and urban and rural economic research. As a result, education and research in rural and regional development, rural economy and rural policy have become decisive elements of spatial science over the past decades. Furthermore, the labor market and also the countryside need experts who understand the operation of the rural economy and consider their primary objective to improve the economic and social well-being of the working population in the countryside. The mission of the department is to carry out education and research of spatial and rural economic disciplines related to social sciences and continuously modernize and develop them.

Head of department
Prof. Dr. H.c. Káposzta, József, CSc
full professor