Hungarian Accreditation Committee (HAC)
ASEE Global Colloquium
„Cultures, Markets and Regulations:
Shaping Global Engineering Education”
Budapest, 14 October 2009

(HHE)
Population: 10 million
HE enrollment: before 1990 group at present
HE Students total:
< 10% of age
~ 40 % of age group
~ 400.000 (half state funded)
Legal background:
University
College
Total
18
11
29
7
33
40
25
44
69

Before 2005: parallel system of programs in
college (practice oriented), 3-4 y.
university (research oriented), 5-6 y.
Since 2005 (sequence 3 cycle Bologna system):
Bachelor – 180/210 credits, 3-3,5 y.
Master – 90/120 credits, 2 y
- long masters: 300 credits (med, law)
PhD – 180 credits, 3+ years
Compulsory general changeover started in 2006.
This loaded HHE and HAC enormously in last years.

a) Government : HE Q policy, legal and financial conds.
b) HAC : external Q Evaluation and Accreditation c) HEIs : key performers in quality of the „product”, responsible for internal Q Assurance d) Faculty: determines Q of teaching and research e) Students: accepts and reflects Q of teaching f) Stakeholders: confirms/questions Q of HE graduates g) Media: reports Q and prepares HE ranking h) Europe +: Bologna, EHEA, ESG, ENQA: public Q
+ international Q labels + US NFCMEA

(Minister):
• QA and accreditation is part of state HE policy.
(No exceptions unlike at neighbors.)
• Hungary signed Bologna declaration
• QUALITY AWARD for HEI QA activity
• After strong expansion (fourfold increase if student number in a decade) the main issue is now: quality !
 Hungarian HE community accepts the need and benefit of QA and accreditation.
 HEIs run QA systems and processes ordered by law.
 State financing is not connected to QA and Accred.
 Quality issue in general is now a part of society.

b) HAC
1
• Independent, mainly academic board, funded by
Parliament (stakeholders spots).
• 29 members (formally appointed by PM), majority delegated by Rector’s Conference and HAS; secretly elected president, committees, experts .
• Its resolutions are „expert opinions”, legal decisions come effective through ministe(rial organs).
• There is an independent HAC appeal board.
• HAC is a European QA player, charter member of
ENQA (European Association for QA in HE), its membership affirmed twice with external reviews.
• HAC accepted and applies ESG in all respects.

HAC
2
• HAC is the only accreditation body in Hungarian
HE, all HEIs have to apply for external QA and accreditation in different affairs.
• HAC introduced HE EXCELLENCE AWARDS
• HHEI-s take part in international Q label providing actions, like e.g. EUR-ACE, QUESTE-VET, EuroInf,
EPAS, etc. by there own initiatives (and costs).
• HAC has functions in external and in internal QA.
• HAC raises public conditions and quality norms in evaluation and accreditation.
• HAC activity and decisions are public:

HAC
3
• HAC is strengthening its international relations and actions in QA activity permanently with different actions and co-operations. HAC has an active
International Advisory Board.
• HAC has to move from input to output evaluation.
(Note! Filtering out a program at input is less painful than exclusion during the process.)
• HAC wishes institutions at accreditation to show their values and results instead of fearing a critical evaluation. More selfawareness if it’s real!
• HAC has its own QA mechanism.

at input (ex ante)
– HEI is charged
During process & at output
(ex post) – free of charge establishing
HEIs/faculties establishing
B and M programs professors’ appointment
Accred. of operating HEI, including QA system (/8y)
--launching
B and M programs parallel programs’ evaluation setting up doctoral (PhD) schools doctoral schools’ evaluation
---

parallel accreditation of all doctoral schools (PhD programs) in Hungary.
 a new, full and living electronic database, with free access, covering all of the 25 Hungarian universities: www.doktori.hu
. (Information for students!)
 ex post evaluation of
~
170 existing (old) and
 ex ante evaluation of
~
20 new doctoral schools , as frame of the 3rd cycle of Bologna system, including
- documents of function, structure, teaching and research plan, coherency, program of QA,
- homepages,
- ~ 2200 core members individually by qualification, performance and relevancy to the

Task for HAC establishment of HEI/faculty
Average cases/year
2 – 4
Bologna yes/total
--accred. of operating HEI establishment of Bachelor pr.
8 – 15
4 – 6
---
141/163 launching Bachelor programs parallel accred. of B/M progr.
80 – 100 establishment of Master pr.
50 – 60 ~350/450 launching Master programs 300 – 400 ~
550/750
30 – 80
~800/1100
--accreditation of PhD schools 2 – 3 10 + 170*

(standards are published in advance):
Ex ante accreditations (input conditions) :
 written proposal submitted
 2 experts’ review (anonymous) →
 disciplinary committees (15 members) →
 resolution of HAC plenum
Ex post accreditation (during operation):
 self-evaluation report (including CSWOT) →
 site visit by a visiting team (5-9 members, incl.
student, QA specialist and stakeholder) →
 draft of the accr. report of the visiting team →
 comments of HEI →
 resolution of HAC plenum

 HEIs consider in all affairs the quality norms and consequences of external evaluation: applications are prepared mainly carefully, except
~25%.
 HAC conditions and norms are the same for all – state and non-state (but state recognized) – HEIs.
 HAC has high quality norms in order to compensate the expansive ambitions of HEIs (state financing follows quantity of student number, not quality).
 HAC evaluations results in requests and advice for
QA systems and management of HEIs.
 HAC as a strong quality safeguard reduces the responsibility of HEIs: HAC whishes to change it!

1
 HE Act : „The HEI operates an internal QA system .
The HEI prepares a quality development program .
• It specifies the process of operation, like the execution of management, planning, control, measurement, assessment, and consumer protection related tasks,
• regulates the rules pertaining to the evaluation of lecturer performance by the students.
• The HEI annually revises the implementation of the program and
• publishes its findings on the website.”
 QA systems are developed, programs start

2
 ESG (Part 1)
1.1 Policy and procedures for quality assurance ***
1.2 Approval, monitoring and periodic review of programs and awards
*
1.3 Assessment of students
*
1.4 Quality assurance of teaching staff
*
1.5 Learning resources and student support
**
1.6 Information systems
***

3
An institutional answer (Quality Awarded HEI)
1. University and QA management
2. Mission of HEI
3. Human resources
4. Inside and outside sources, partners
5. Processes of QA
6. Satisfaction of students and employers
7. Satisfaction of faculty and staff
8. Social impact
9. Important results

 University was traditionally an institution of excellence, with quality based selection of professors and students (Nobel-laureates with Hungarian HE roots: Lénárd, Zsigmondy, Bárány, Szent-Györgyi,
Hevesy, Békésy, Wigner, Gábor, Oláh, Harsányi) .
 Mass education age requires systematic QA.
 QA system should exist in all HEIs: committees, bylaws, standards, development programs etc.
 Regular self evaluation, incl. C-SWOT analysis
 The impact of all these is very diversified: quantity beats quality if interest is stronger than values.
 A broadly and deeply effective quality culture is not yet common although is improving.

 In most cases selected on meritocracy principle, vs.
HHE salary conditions.
 Quality based mentality dominates, organized QA is slowly accepted. Formal and alibi Q actions hurt.
 Realizes: Q is a winning factor in all competitions.
• Student evaluation of teaching is in progress, its consequences are still moderate.
• Methods of earlier elite education must be replaced by mass education procedures.
• Student centered learning gradually replaces knowledge based teaching.

 Quality, in principle, is their strong interest.
• Quality of teaching can be achieved only with their active participation.
• At mass education students’ motivation, participation and quality varies on a broad scale: from excellent performance to leisure school-days.
• Empowering required: students should influence their own transformation
• Credits (ECTS) are used and misused
• Student associations in most cases are partners in
QA actions.

 4 HAC members represent stakeholders.
 HAC has a Stakeholders Advisory Board.
 They demand general skills, like being motivated, team working, critical thinking, management and IT skills, foreign languages, ready learn to adopt etc.
• Labor Market moderately acknowledges Q of individual degrees, Q of HEI has bigger influence.
• Reputation of HEI and salaries (incomes) strongly influence pupils interest in choosing study programs.
 Rising recognition of HE excellence from private.
sector (awards, scholarships) stimulates Q in society

• Shows reasonable balances between good news
(Q, excellence) and bad news (scandals).
• HAC has to manage its media-appearance much better.
• Domestic ranking is now flourishing in Hungarian media too.
• Every HEI likes to find and finds good ranking position to glaze and advertise itself.
• Ranking, despite distortions, have more popular appeal than the accurate hard work of quality agencies.

 Hungarian HE is traditionally a European HE, pioneer in several cases (Selmecbánya, Georgikon).
 Hungary signed Bologna in 1999. Next Bologna meeting (2010) takes place in Budapest/Vienna.
 Hungary takes part in creation of the European
Higher Education Area (+ European Research Area).
 ESG effects Hungarian QA policy and practice.
 ENQA membership has significant importance.
 US National Committee on Foreign Medical
Education and Accreditation accredits through
HAC.
All these influence positively Q in HHEIs.

(„I have a dream!”)
(instead of external ones) based on
.
It requires a new and severe quality culture inside institutions, where
- common values meet particular interests,
- social and individual goals converge,
- high quality is favored against mass quantity.