Two of Hungary's largest global corporations, Citigroup and GE, are teaming up to help improve Hungarian financial education. Contributions from the Citigroup Foundation and the GE Foundation are funding the Economics for Leaders program at the Csilleberc Youth Center in Budapest for 30 Hungarian high school students, selected for their leadership potential, and 30 Hungarian high school teachers.

The weeklong program is an outgrowth of Economics for Leaders programs conducted by the Foundation for Teaching Economics (FTE) in the United States and takes place the second week of August. Junior Achievement, Hungary - the FTE's partner in this program - selects students and teachers from all regions of Hungary to attend and also assists with the leadership instruction.

Economics for Leaders is designed to give Hungary's future leaders a better understanding of the free market system and to give these future leaders the skills to motivate others. The program is also carefully designed to give the 30 high school social studies teachers, who come from all parts of Hungary, professional development training, showing them how to use interactive teaching techniques to make economics more understandable.

During the week, students develop insight into economic behavior, an economic way of thinking about public policy choices, and an appreciation for different leadership styles. Teachers become better educators, leaving with new teaching strategies, a more complete understanding of economic concepts, and simulations, games and materials to make economics exciting to students. The staff includes both American and Hungarian instructors. There are no fees or tuition for either students or teachers to attend.

"GE considers education one of the most important areas of interest, since for every country it is the quality of education which influences the future of a country to a great extent. It is our pleasure to see that this FTE program - which is sponsored by the GE Foundation in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria - has brought a new dimension to the philanthropy and community involvement of our company in this field. I am thrilled to talk about our company's culture and management as a member of GE Elfun volunteers organization." said Lee Munro, head of GE's European Operations Services based in Budapest. Mr. Munro will make a presentation and held a Q and A session at the program about how GE operates and how economic principles impact GE’s business.

The Foundation for Teaching Economics has been conducting Economics for Leaders programs in Hungary for the past 12 years with support from Citigroup, the Citigroup Foundation, and GE. Evaluation shows that both students and teachers leave with a better understanding of the economic forces that play such an important part in every day life. Most importantly, participants leave knowing the importance of distinguishing between value-laden judgments and empirically verifiable ones.

"Citigroup believes that strong Financial Education programs raise the quality of life for individuals, families and institutions and strengthen communities around the world. In April of this year, Citigroup and the Citigroup Foundation announced a 10-year, $200 million global commitment to financial education. Based on the excellent fit of this program with our strategy and its success during 2003, we therefore decided to continue supporting it in Hungary, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia. The summer camp is an excellent opportunity for participants to acquire knowledge and learn to enjoy economics. By exploring the correlation between economics and leadership through rigorous and challenging activities, students are getting skills that Hungary's future leaders need," said Zdenek Turek, Citigroup Country Officer for Citibank Rt. Eva Hencz, Public Affairs Officer for Citibank Rt., will lead an interactive classroom exercise that simulates the operations of an imaginary consumer bank - including products and services offerings and distribution and servicing channels - together with participating students and teachers.

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For further information regarding the Economics for Leaders program, please contact Megyesi Gabriella at + 36-70-251-0011 or Szabolcs Rabb at +36-30-996-0358 in Hungary or James Klauder at (530) 757-4633 at the Foundation for Teaching Economics.

Note to the editors

The program has two components for students:

1. Economics classes, which present the principles of free enterprise. Teaching simulations are used extensively, and students learn to think critically about current social problems.
2. Leadership sessions, which challenge students with group problems that teach conflict resolution, communication skills, and different leadership approaches.

Teacher training is also an important goal:

1. Teachers observe the economics classes and learn, first hand, the benefit of teaching through interactive, experiential techniques.
2. Workshops provide teachers with an opportunity to further explore the economics simulations and to share other ideas and materials for teaching economics.

Ken Leonard, Director of Program Development at the FTE, will be lecturing at the Hungarian program. Dr. Leonard has written extensively on the role of values in the formation of economic policy and has worked with the FTE since 1991 in the United States and Central Europe.

In order to assess the impact of the Csilleberc Economics for Leaders program, pre- and post-tests are administered to all students. Additionally, in-depth evaluations are completed by each participant, and 6 months after returning to their schools, the teachers are asked to report on the impact of the program on their teaching.