Prof. György BAZSA, PresidentHungarian Accreditation Committee (HAC)

ASEE Global Colloquium„Cultures, Markets and Regulations:

Shaping Global Engineering Education”Budapest, 14 October 2009

A Hungarian perspective on accreditation

Impacts of … and on …

Hungary and Hungarian Higher Education (HHE)

Population: 10 million HE enrollment: before 1990 < 10% of age

group at present ~ 40 % of age

groupHE Students total: ~ 400.000 (half state funded)

Legal background: HE Law in 1993 and 2005HE Institutions: ~7 HEI / 1 million

inhabits

HEI StateChurch

/ Private

Total

University 18 7 25

College 11 33 44

Total 29 40 69

System of training programs

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.

Dr. univ. has a long tradition in Hungary. The present PhD form exists since 1993 at 25 universities.

Actors in Hungarian HE Quality

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

a) Government (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!

Impact 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) HAC1

• 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.

HAC2

• 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:

http://www.mab.hu

HAC3

• 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 self-awareness if it’s real!

• HAC has its own QA mechanism.

System of HAC activities (external QA)

at input (ex ante)– HEI is charged

During process & at output

(ex post) – free of charge

establishing HEIs/faculties

Accred. of operating HEI, including QA system (/8y)

establishing B and M programs

---

launching B and M programs

parallel programs’ evaluation

setting up doctoral (PhD) schools

doctoral schools’ evaluation

professors’ appointment

---

A unique impact: 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 school.

This evaluates quality of scientific production of HEI.

Task for HACAverage cases/ye

ar

Bologna yes/total

establishment of HEI/faculty

2 – 4 ---

accred. of operating HEI 8 – 15 ---

establishment of Bachelor pr.

4 – 6 141/163

launching Bachelor programs

80 – 100~800/110

0

establishment of Master pr.

50 – 60 ~350/450

launching Master programs

300 – 400 ~550/750

parallel accred. of B/M progr.

30 – 80 ---

accreditation of PhD schools

2 – 3 10 + 170*

opinion for professors’ appt

120 – 140yes: 90–

100

HAC activities in figures

Processes (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 C-SWOT)

→ 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

Impact of HAC on HEIs 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!

c) HEI quality management1 – 2 documents

HE Act: „The HEI operates an internal QA system.

The HEI prepares a quality development program.

• It specifies the process of operation, like the execu-tion of management, planning, control, measurement,assessment, and consumer protection related tasks,

• regulates the rules pertaining to the evaluation oflecturer performance by the students.

• The HEI annually revises the implementation of theprogram and

• publishes its findings on the website.” QA systems are developed, programs start

formally.

HEI quality management2 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 ***

1.7 Public information ***

HEIs begin to follow ESG standards, HAC requires it.

HE quality management3

An institutional answer (Quality Awarded HEI)1.University and QA management2.Mission of HEI3.Human resources4.Inside and outside sources, partners5.Processes of QA6.Satisfaction of students and employers7.Satisfaction of faculty and staff8.Social impact9.Important results

Impact in HEIs University was traditionally an institution of

excel-lence, 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.

d) Faculty: 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.

e) Students: 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.

f) Stakeholders (employers, labor market): 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

g) Media:• 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.

h) Europe + 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.

The Hungarian perspective of accreditation:

(„I have a dream!”) internal program accreditation

(instead of external ones) based on by HAC accredited QA of HEI.

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.

QA vs. QP:QA isn’t an art for art sake:

the main aim of QA is good Quality Product:

- high class graduates, - excellent science and innovation,

- efficient local/social services.