Our department is a leading research school of Europe in probability theory and related fields, located in the heart of the beautiful and vibrant city of Budapest that hosts over 180.000 university students, 18.000 from abroad. The country has a century-long tradition in analysis and probability, with mathematical geniuses like János Bólyai, Paul Erdős and John von Neumann.
The Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) was founded in 1782, and is a center of excellence in teaching and scientific and technological research. It has three Nobel laureate alumni, and is ranked among the top 100 European universities in a 2010 survey. The Institute of Mathematics was founded in 1996, and has quickly grown into a national center, focusing on, but not restricted to, mathematics relevant to the physical sciences, engineering and information technology. It has five departments (Algebra, Analysis, Differential Equations, Geometry, Stochastics) and has close ties to the Institute of Physics and the Department of Computer Science. In its faculty of 85, there are four members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and several more of high international reputation. The Stochastics Department is the very center of the probability and dynamical systems activity in Hungary. Our department is very well known internationally, with a lot of collaboration all over the world.
Besides foundational science, we also care a lot about applications of our expertise to real-life problems: we have had several joint projects with top international companies in finance, insurance, telecommunication and commerce, in which many students have also participated. We have guest teachers from leading banks, consulting and insurance companies, and our MSc and PhD students have had internships and jobs at firms like Morgan Stanley.
The department has a lively, supportive atmosphere. Our department is large enough to have a variety of students and facutly to talk to, but small enough so that everyone recieves personal attention. Each MSc student can choose a mentor from the faculty who will help with all academic matters, like choosing courses and a thesis advisor.
