THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN KÁROLI GÁSPÁR REFORMED THE CIMS MES PROGRAMME

EUROPEAN INSTITUTE FOR UNIVERSITY, HUNGARY AT A GLANCE

CONTACT
The staff of the Central and Eastern
European Institute for Mission Studies
will provide further information and
answers questions via email, telephone as
well as in a personal consultation.
KRE-CIMS
IX. Kálvin tér 7. II. floor
H-1461 Budapest, Pf. 73
Tel: +36(1) 216 2054/113
Fax: +36-1-216 2054/101
cims@kre.hu
http://www.kre.hu/kmti
MISSION STUDIES
(CIMS)
The Central and Eastern European Institute for
Mission Studies (CIMS) is a regional learning and
research centre situated in Budapest, one of
Europe’s most beautiful and lively capitals. It was
established as a branch of the Károli Gáspár
Reformed University (KRE) in 2006 when the
university celebrated its 150th anniversary. The
KRE has more than 4500 students in four
departments.
New Challenges
Practical mission work requires academic
missiological reflection and research. Churches in
Central and Eastern Europe are facing increasingly
complex challenges to witness in word and deed in
their ”post-communist” societies, including
globalisation, pluralism and secularisation. CIMS
therefore seeks to integrate the following aspects of
mission in education and research:
 Mutual learning experiences about mission and
mission related issues
 An international and interdenominational
learning community
 Study of the biblical foundations of mission
 Analysis of the history of mission
 Contextual relevance
 Spiritual depth
PhD in Missiology and  Degree: Doctor of Philosophy
 Degree Title: Doctor of Philosophy in
Ecumenical Studies Missiology and Ecumenical Studies
Programme  Degree issued by: the Károli Gáspár
University of the Reformed Church in
Hungary, recognized by Hungarian
Educational Authorities as PhD.
at the Central and Eastern
 Duration of Programme: minimum four
European Institute for years
Mission Studies  Language of instruction: Hungarian or/and
English
 Requirements for admission:
a university diploma or equivalent, that is
a document confirming their completion
of a Master’s degree programme in
theology or religious studies
 Language requirements: applicants must
provide evidence of their English language
skills (equivalent to Hungarian C-level)*
 Start of Program: September
 Deadline for application: 31 May
 Tuition fee: see information package
 Scholarship fund: available

Key Values
 Focus on “Post-communist” and secularised
Europe: a context in transition
 Church and mission seeking new relevance
 Mission is God’s mission
 Bridge as symbol and as challenge

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROGRAMME DESCRIPTION
PROGRAMME MES seeks to stimulate scholars to inspect
embedded theologies and develop deliberative
MES is designed to provide outstanding theologies. MES recognizes the importance and
candidates with the opportunity to design, relevance of concepts and ideas originating
develop and complete a customized research from the diverse CEE contexts.
plan and in consequence to: KRE-CIMS, through its MES is committed
 develop new theories with  To ensure that students come from
contextual relevance for societies diverse cultural backgrounds,
with a communist past  To encourage scholars from CEE and
 contribute with new insights to the from other parts of world to take part
various missionary, in the PhD programme so that mutual
interdenominational and inter- learning and exchange of theological
religious activities of the church; thinking can be realized.
 master academic disciplines essential  To stimulate students to engage in
for missiology; theological/missiological dialogue with
 deepen the ability of doing high- CEE scholars through the post-
level academic research; doctoral fellowship programme.
 improve the personal ability to think Students are seen as full-fledged
“missiologically” within the global members of the community of
context.
scholars.
Along the way, students will also have the  To actively seek partnership with like-
possibility to: minded schools and training
 gain supervised teaching experience programmes. Networking is crucial
at graduate level; both for gaining deeper insight into
 take actively part in the life of our the situation of the world wide church
academic community and for making students encounter
cultural contexts different from their
own.
STRUCTURE OF THE
PROGRAMME
MES consists of six tutorials (three years of
two each), four methodology classes (in the
first two years), two comprehensive exams
and a dissertation. Components can be
customized to meet the specific research
interests of the student.
Part I: Course part →
Phase 1 (completed within one year)→
Orientation and Research Program Design
Methods 1: Orientation for PhD Studies and
Research Design→Tutorial 1: Missiological
Thinking→Tutorial 2: Ecumenical Studies
Overview
Decision Point: Initial Research Project Evaluation
Phase 2 (completed within two years)
Specialization and Refining the Research
Proposal→Methods 2: Data Collection Method
A→Tutorial 3: Secondary Discipline Literature
Review→Methods 3: Data Collection Method
B→Tutorial 4: Initial Field Research
Decision Point: Research Proposal Defense
Phase 3 (completed within two/three years)
Final Field Research & Analysis
Tutorial 5: Further Field Research→Methods 4:
Data Analysis→Tutorial 6: Field Research Analysis
Decision Point: Comprehensive Exams
Part II: Dissertation writing part
Phase 4 (completed within four/five years)
Dissertation Writing
Decision Point: Dissertation Defence
FACULTY
All KRE-CIMS faculty are practitioners with
significant personal experience in cross-
cultural mission, strong academic credentials,
and connected to ministries in their areas of
expertise. Our faculty have lived and worked
in Central and Eastern Europe, are able to
communicate in many different languages,
such as Hungarian, French, German, Dutch,
Russian, Romanian, and have had numerous
academic publications in those languages.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
Application is done in the form of an
interview. The admission committee
evaluates the candidate in four categories:
Professional intelligence; diploma: professio-
nal/academic and extracurricular activities;
language proficiency
LOCATION OF CIMS
CIMS is centrally located in the heart of
Budapest, around the corner from the famous
Ráday Street with its numerous restaurants
and coffee houses, in the close vicinity of four
major universities, and several key libraries.
which contain major resources for the study
of mission. The CIMS library contains about
10.000 volumes, the majority in English and
German.
The location of Budapest in Hungary and in
the heart of Central Europe makes it indeed
especially fit for offering the MTh
programme.