Academic Partners

Alumni Socio-Lab

The Alumni Socio-Lab is a workshop series organised by alumni of American and European exchange programmes with the intention of scrutinising socially important questions related to Hungary. As part of its broader vision of fostering socio-political change, the Milestone Institute hosts the Alumni Socio-Lab, which debates current political and policy questions with the broader aim of contributing to public discourse through a weekly seminar series with high profile guests and fierce discussion.

Budapest Semester of Mathematics Education

The Budapest Semester of Mathematics Education (BSME) is a highly acclaimed study abroad programme based in Budapest that is designed for US undergraduates and recent graduates interested in teaching secondary-school mathematics. The main thrust of this collaboration is focused on providing BSME students the opportunity to work with some of Hungary’s most talented students in mathematics, either one-on-one or by teaching a seminar. Past BSME students have thus worked with Milestone students on advanced problems in calculus and taught classes in cryptology.

CEU Department of Medieval Studies

Thanks to the openness of the faculty at Central European University’s Department of Medieval Studies, Milestone students have been able to assist in the compiling of the Medieval Animal Data-Network (MAD). MAD was conceived as a way of addressing the manifold ways humans related to and depended on animals for physical and spiritual existence in medieval Europe. A database is being compiled around a number of data categories including textual data, images, archaeological topographic data, artefacts, and archaeo-zoological evidence. The timeframe begins with the end of the Roman Empire in Europe and in some areas, where clear continuity can be demonstrated, data input even extends to materials from the 17th or 18th centuries. Milestone students currently work on the categorisation of real and imaginary medieval animals, while some plan to write essays on a broader topic to be published on the Cultural Heritage website of CEU.

European Talent Point

Set up by the European Council of High Ability, the European Talent Support Network‘s aim is to develop cooperative contacts between organisations involved in the field of high ability with a primary focus of talent identification and support. The Milestone Institute is a European Talent Point overseen by the European Talent Center Budapest. Milestone acts as a best practice institution for other talent points in the network and has hosted visitors from Slovenia, the Czech Republic as well as representatives of the Tribal Mensa Nurturing Programme in rural India.

FabLab

The Budapest FabLab is the local hub of the international network of innovation workshops run by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The Milestone Institute and FabLab Budapest have been working together on common projects for over three years given our shared interest in education and talent development. Joint projects include running academic modules together, sharing faculty and staff and developing new ideas on education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Milestone’s engineering modules typically take place at FabLab, where students benefit from cutting-edge machinery and the wealth of expertise that our partner provides.

Hungarian Ministry of Human Resources

In 2016, under the aegis of the National Talent Programme, the Hungarian Ministry of Human Resources (EMMI) and the Milestone Institute announced an official partnership agreement with the aim of helping talented Roma students to get access to the world’s leading universities through receiving the best quality prior education. Subscribed to the values of equal opportunities, social mobility, and cultural and ethnic diversity our Institute established and introduced its Roma Scholarship Programme with the financial support of the EMMI’s Secretariat Responsible for Family and Youth Matters: in the first year of the programme six Roma talents with difficult social background were given the opportunity to study at Milestone and became part of our community. We are looking forward to deepen our collaboration with EMMI and extend our scholarship programme in order to provide the chance for more Roma students to join Milestone and get the education, which will enable them to continue their studies in the finest institutes of higher education in the world.

Hungarian Templeton Program

The Hungarian Templeton Program is a pilot educational and talent development programme whose main purpose is to develop and support exceptional Hungarian talents in the 10-29 age group. In the 2016/17 academic year, the Milestone Institute served as a professional talent development partner of the Hungarian Templeton Program. Eight Templeton Fellows were awarded scholarships that they used to attend the academic programme of Milestone, which enabled them to enjoy the benefits of personal mentoring, advanced-level tuition and participation in student societies that we offer.

International Center of Nonviolent Conflict

The International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) is an independent, non-profit, educational foundation that develops and encourages the study and use of civilian-based strategies to establish and defend human rights, democracy, and justice worldwide. The Milestone Institute has applied to and received the High School Curriculum Fellowship provided by the ICNC to teach classes in civil and non-violent resistance. With the module on the ‘Theory and Practice of Civil Resistance’, Milestone hopes to encourage students to recognise key socio-political issues and study the political means that will allow them to stand up for themselves.

International Education Center

The International Education Center (IEC) specialises in helping students study all around the world. IEC is active in Germany and Hungary and represents more than 130 partner universities worldwide. The agency helps those who would like to study abroad and need guidance in the application process. Milestone and IEC have shared best practices to help students make the best decisions regarding their applications to institutions of higher education abroad.

Magyar Tehetségépítő Szervezetek Szövetsége

The Magyar Tehetségépítő Szervezetek Szövetsége (MATEHETSZ) is an umbrella organisation that accredits talent centres in Hungary, shares best practices and research on talent identification and talent development, organises events and runs an information website for stakeholders including students, parents, talent professionals, NGOs and governmental actors. The Milestone Institute has been accredited by MATEHETSZ as a Hungarian Talent Point. This also means that MATEHETSZ provides us with important information on talent-related news (competitions, camps, grants, etc.) as well as professional development tools such as books on talent identification and development. The Milestone Institute also acts as a best practice institution for other talent points in the region.

Open Society Foundations

The Open Society Foundations, formerly the Open Society Institute, supports those organisations and individuals who play an active role in supporting and protecting democratic values, minority rights, press freedom and quality education for all. In collaboration with the Open Society Foundations, the Milestone Institute ran a mobilisation campaign for Hungarians living in the UK to take part in the elections to the European Parliament in 2014. The campaign featured local mobilisation events and initiatives conducted by Milestone Alumni in up to 10 UK cities, and a range of online activities, including videos featuring Hungarian celebrities, slam poetry and information on voting procedures.

Premontrei Szent Norbert Gimnázium

The Milestone Institute has provided consulting on organisation development and professional training on talent development, mentoring and social media for the teachers of this prestigious Catholic high school located in Gödöllő, Hungary. Our collaboration also included joint research on alumni monitoring.

Romaversitas

To date, Romaversitas’ complex educational programme has helped more than 300 talented Roma students gain a university degree and become qualified professionals. In the context of our Knowledge Port Strategic Plan for 2020, Romaversitas became the first organisation to be hosted on the Milestone Institute’s premises with the ambition of developing collaborative projects dedicated to our common values of social equality and minority integration. In the forthcoming years, we will work together on a number of projects – including the Milestone Institute’s Roma Scholarship programme and the Romaversitas’ initiatives for high school students – to realise these goals.

UniCredit

UniCredit is a global Italian banking and financial services company with over 25 million clients worldwide. UniCredit joined the Milestone Institute’s Talent Development Platform, which offers profit and non-profit organisations the opportunity to contribute to the education of talented individuals. The bank thus provides scholarships and internships for talented Milestone students who are interested in the fields covered by its activities, and in return UniCredit gains the specific benefits of creating a long-term 
connection between talented individuals and its brand; the opportunity to contribute to social inclusion programmes, gaining insights into student development know-how and best practices, and developing knowledge about the new generation of employees with a specific focus on talent recruitment.

Universities and Colleges Admissions Service

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) is the centralised body through which applications to UK universities are processed. The Milestone Institute is a UCAS registered centre, which enables our students to make their UK university applications through us.

Van Helyed Foundation

The Van Helyed Foundation is an NGO whose integrative social programmes enable children from disadvantaged areas, especially ethnic Roma, to successfully attend good schools. As part of the cooperation we started in 2017, Van Helyed selects talented young students from disadvantaged social backgrounds who get the chance to participate in the Milestone Institute’s academic programme as recipients of our Roma scholarship programme. Our aim is to enhance the students’ social mobility and promote social equality by providing mentoring, advanced-level English classes and academic tutoring.

Weizmann Institute of Science

The International Summer Science Institute (ISSI) is a prestigious research programme that has been organised by the Weizmann Institute of Science since 1969. Each year, over 80 secondary school students from all over the world take part in the programme and join a research project at Weizmann for a month. In 2017, for the first time in the history of the ISSI, Hungarian students will participate in the programme, which is made possible thanks to the financial support of the Hungarian Friends for the Weizmann Institute. The selection process was organised and run in close collaboration with the Milestone Institute.

West London Synagogue

The West London Synagogue is the oldest Reform synagogue in Britain. Established in 1840, it has been pioneering Reform Judaism in the UK ever since, and today is a thriving community in the heart of London. Apart from sharing best practices on education, in 2017 the Milestone Institute and the West London Synagogue have launched the Lyons Scholarship, with the aim of increasing the number of Jewish children able to benefit from Milestone’s outstanding, internationally recognised education programme for Hungarian students with high academic ability and strong leadership potential.