HAC is moving

The HAC is moving to new premises on July 8-9, 2010.

Our new Address will be: 1013 Budapest, Krisztina krt. 39/B, 4th floor

Our phones and e-mails remain unchanged.

The office will open again on July 12 but please understand that for some days prior to and after the move we will not be able to respond to your mails and phone calls.

TEAM II project

The HAC has participated in the TEAM II project. The aim of the project, which was supported by the European Comission and coordinated by ECA, was to develop a methodology for the accreditation of international joint master's programs. As an outcome of the project, the HAC is developing its own methodology for the accreditation of international joint programs.

Another element of the project is the Qrossroads database. For now, the Hungarian higher education system is available there, but soon all accredited higher education isntitutions and their programs can be seen by linking on http://www.qrossroads.eu/home.

The presentations from the conference are available here: www.ecaconsortium.net/main/events/documents/joint-programmes:-too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen/4

The newly elected HAC begins its three-year term

The new, 19-member HAC began its term on 1 February 2010. On 12 February it held its first plenary meeting and the members received their letters of appointment, signed by the Prime Minister. The members elected György Bazsa as their president for a second term. At the following meeting, on 26 February, the members set up the new standing committees. According to the 2009 amendment of the higher education act, these have been reduced to eight expert committees, grouped according to broad sets of disciplines.

HAC Delegates for the 2010-2012 Term

HAC International Advisory Board Meeting

The HAC International Advisory Board held its annual meeting in Budapest at the HAC offices on October 9-10, 2009. Based on the documents sent to the Board in advance and the discussions at the meeting, the Board formulated its Recommendations.

Secrretary General Re-elected as Vice-President of ENQA

HAC Secretary General Tibor Szántó was reelected to the post of vice-president at the ENQA general assembly on 28-29 September 2009, a position he has held since 2007. Dr. Szántó is also part of the ENQA Finance Committee, and the Membership Committee.

Expert Training Forum

On 25 September 2009 the HAC held a one-day training forum for all its external experts. Of the over 1200 invited experts over 200 took place in the event. The background documents are available in Hungarian on the Hungarian website.

Doctoral data base

Together with the Hungarian Doctoral Council, the HAC has set up a data base for the evaluation of doctoral schools. All phases of the evaluations are now conducted in electronic form (see www.doktori.hu)

The English translation of "The President's Report on the HAC's activities in 2008" can now be read here.

International Advisory Board meeting

The HAC’s Board held its meeting at the HAC offices on 23-24 November. It reviewed the HAC’s work in the past year and reflected on its external evaluation and Action Plan.

The Board’s Recommendations can be found here while the HAC’s Action Plan, as adopted at its plenary meeting on 5 December 2008 are accessible here.

The 3^rd European Quality Assurance Forum in Budapest

Organized by the E4 (EUA, ENQA, ESU, EURASHE) the 3^rd Quality Assurance Forum was held at Corvinus University in Budapest 20-22 November 2008. The main issues were the importance of engaging all university members in a common quality culture, and learning outcomes, which requires a new paradigm in approaching teaching and learning. A third main topic was university ranking, which is gaining popularity but which the participants overwhelmingly rejected as a quality assurance tool. Nevertheless – also in light of the call for a new ranking instrument by the French EU presidency – ranking should be steered into acceptable and realistic channels by considering the purpose and environment of the examined entity, and to allow for a variety of institutions for various needs.

For more details please go to http://www.eua.be/fileadmin/user_upload/files/Newsletter_new/EQAF08_Summary_2_.pdf.

Foreign visitors

Linking their visits to Budapest for the Quality Forum, Mark Hay the audit director of the Australian Universities Quality Agency AUQA and Karin Järplid Linde and Carin Olausson, staff members of the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education Högskoleverket visited the HAC offices for discussions with the HAC president and staff members. Their aim was to learn more about the HAC operations and plans and to present their own practices at the respective agencies.

HAC external evaluation and reconfirmation of ENQA membership

In the first half of 2008 the HAC underwent an external review by an international group of experts. This was the second such exercise, following the 2000 review, and will now be repeated every five years in line with the European Standards and Guidelines. Considering the review report ENQA reconfirmed HAC’s full membership at its general assembly in September 2008. The complete self-evaluation and evaluation document, including the HAC’s comments, can be found here.

Participation in international evaluation/accreditation commissions

HAC President Dr. György Bazsa will chair the external review team of the Romanian agency ARACIS in the spring of 2009.

HAC member Dr. János Csirik was invited to act as an expert reviewer for the German agency FIBAA. HAC staff member Christina Rozsnyai participates in the FIBAA commission for institutional, so-called “system” accreditation. She was also invited to the accreditation commission for quality audits at the Austrian agency AQA.

President’s report on the HAC’s work in 2007

The document can be accessed here.

Statistics on the HAC’s work in 2004-2008

Please link here

Reapplication for Hungarian accreditation recognition in the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Education, National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation has again approached the Hungarian Ministry for Education and Culture with its extensive questionnaire for the purpose of recognizing HAC accreditation of Hungarian medical education in the United States.

New offices

The HAC has moved its offices to a new location in downtown Budapest: H-1061 Budapest, Király u. 16. The phone and fax numbers and electronic addresses remain the same.

HAC staff elected to ENQA and EUA

The ENQA general assembly in September 2007 has elected HAC Secretary General Tibor Szántó as its vice-president. Also in September of this year, staff member Christina Rozsnyai joins the EUA Institutional Evaluation Programme's Steering Committee.

New HAC membership

The Prime Minister's letters of appointment were presented to the  new membership of the HAC at its inaugural meeting on January 5, 2006. The newly elected president of the HAC is György Bazsa, professor of chemistry at Debrecen University, a former rector there and onetime president of the Hungarian Rectors' Conference.

An overview of the HAC's work in 2006 can be read here.

Seminar in Albania

On 26-27 September 2006 Tibor Szántó and Christina Rozsnyai held a two-day training seminar for university representatives and quality assurance experts in Tirana. The seminar focused on quality assurance methodologies and practices, country models and history, the Bologna process and the European Standards and Guidelines.

Parliament has passed the new Higher Education Act on November 28, after making the revisions demanded by the Constitutional Court. The Act had passed once before in May but objections were submitted to the Court at that time. The Act was published on December 14, 2005, it will come into force March 1, 2006. To read about the main elements in the 2005 Higher Education Act and HAC tasks click here.
(17.01.2006)

CEE Network Publication

“Mapping external quality assurance in Central and Eastern Europe. A comparative survey by the CEE Network” by Stefanie Hofmann, ACQUIN, was published in the series ENQA Occasional Papers, No. 8. A limited number of copies may be ordered free of charge by writing to Christina Rozsnyai at rozsnyai@mab.hu or by linking to www.enqa.eu/pubs.lasso.
(05.07.06)

 CEE Network General Assembly

 The CEE Network held its annual workshop together with its biennial General Assembly on 29-30 May 2006 in Schloss Retzhof near Graz, Austria. Peter Williams, president of ENQA, gave a presentation about that organisation in anticipation of the CEE Network joining ENQA as an affiliate organisation.  The aim of the workshop was to discuss the developments of member agencies toward attaining the European Standards since the CEE Network Survey was taken.           The General Assembly elected Pavol Navrat, Slovakia, as its new chairman and steering committee members Galina Motova, Russia, Ivan Panayatov, Bulgaria, Aurelija Valeikiene, Lithuania (also Treasurer), and Marek Wasowicz, Poland.
For more information please visit www.ceenetwork.hu.
(05.07.06)

 EU project in Bosnia and Herzegovina

 The Council of Europe and the European Commission are carrying out this joint project to assist Bosnia and Herzegovina fulfil its commitments from the Bologna Process and the Bergen Communiqué (May 2005). More information on the project can be read here.
(05.07.06)

 International Advisory Board meeting

 The HAC International Advisory Board held its 2006 meeting on May 30-31, 2006 at Debrecen University. The University had just concluded its external evaluation by the HAC and the Board met with members of the evaluation team and with evaluated university participants to learn about their experiences in the evaluation process. The Board’s Recommendations for this and the HAC’s work can be read here.
(05.07.06)

ENQA held its second, extraordinary General Assembly at the Frankfurt airport on November 4, 2004. The HAC was represented by President László Fesüs and Secretary General Tibor Szántó. At the General Assembly ENQA dissolved its earlier network configuration and established itself as an association. Its new name is the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), which is being registered in Finland. The HAC is a founding member of the new association. The General Assembly confirmed the Board members who had been elected on an interim basis at the June 4 General Assembly in Stockholm, and include Tibor Szántó (for a three year term). The re-elected chairman, for a one-year term, is Christian Thune (DK), with Peter Williams (UK) and Séamus Purséil (IRL) as vice-chairs. Kimmo Hämäläinen will continue as Secretary (SF).
(16/11/04)

The CEE Network General Assembly in Prague

The CEE Network held is biennial General Assembly on 23-24 October 2004 in Prague, hosted by the Czech Accreditation Commission and with the support of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the Czech Republic.
The meeting was preceded by a workshop. The Vice-Minister for Education of the Czech Republic, Dr. Petr Kolar, welcomed the participants. The workshop theme was the survey of CEE Network member agencies, begun by Dr. Stefanie Hofmann. The survey is a stocktaking exercise on the basic practices and the procedural and legislative frameworks of member agencies, the expected outcome of which is to identify possible pathways to mutual recognition. The frame of reference, and thus the focus of the two discussion groups, were the proposed ENQA criteria for membership.
Two applications for new CEE Network membership were discuss: the Austrian Fachhochschulrat (FHR), established in 1993, was approved as a full member of the CEE Network by unanimous vote, while the Austrian Quality Assurance Agency (AQA), which began operating only in the beginning of 2004, was granted observer status until the next General Assembly in 2006.
(28/10/04)

New International Advisory Board

At its pleanry session in September 2004 the HAC elected its new International Advisory Board. The Board now has nine members, six of whom have been elected for a second term and three are newly elected members. For the full list and details please click here.
(19/10/04)

Bachelor/Master degrees launched in Hungary

At its March 26 plenary meeting the HAC passed a resolution on the national qualification requirements for new Bachelor and Master programs. At the meeting it also discussed the accreditation requirements for launching new Bachelor programs, which it accepted as a resolution at its plenary meeting of July 2, 2004. So far, 60 applications for new Bachelor programs were submitted (38 were accepted, 21 were conditionally accepted where the HAC asked for additional documents, and one was rejected.)
(20/07/04)

Meeting of the International Advisory Board

The International Advisory Board of the HAC held its annual meeting on May 28 and 29, 2004. On Friday afternoon the Board joined the HAC's regular plenary meeting, where they participated in the discussion on the evaluation team's reports on the parallel accreditation of history and psychology programs in Hungary. On Saturday the Board held its regular meeting. Please link here to read their Recommendations.
(20/07/04)

Conference in Greifswald

Staff member Christina Rozsnyai participated at a conference on July 1-2, 2004 in Greifswald, Germany, organized the Ernst Moritz Arndt University in the framework of their project BLK-Verbundprojekt Leistungspunkte that was titled "Credits after Bologna and Berlin. An Instrument for Quality Assurance?" The paper will appear in a publication on the conference issued by the project.
(20/07/04)

New full members in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

HAC Chairman László Fésüs, HAC plenum members Csaba Pléh, László Hatvani, Gábor Makara B. and Ernő Zalai have been granted full membership in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Congratulations!
(25.05.2004.)

CEE Network General Assembly

The CEE Network will hold its next General Assembly in Prague on October 23-24, 2004. Attached to the conference will be a workshop, whose subject is to discuss the main topics in the CEE Network survey of its member agencies. Participants will provide input for the focus of the ensuing report on quality assurance and accreditation procedures and practices in CEE. Please click here for the full program and registration.
(24.05.2004.)

The Second Cycle of Institutional Accreditation

In 2004 the HAC begins its second cycle of evaluating and accrediting all higher education institutions in Hungary, which it is required to do by law at least every eight years. Click here to find the outline for the procedure.
(24.05.2004.)

Discussion of the draft Higher Education Act

On request by the Ministry of Education, in March 2004, the HAC has discussed the draft outline for the new HE Act and submitted its comments to the Ministry.
(15.04.2004.)

New Bachelor Study Programs

At its March plenary meeting, the HAC passed a resolution on how to deal with applications for Bachelor study programs, some of which will be launched for the first time in Hungary in September 2005. (As a pilot exercise, Bachelor programs in information science have been accredited and will launch at several institutions in September 2004.) The HAC has set down the requirements for applications submitted for preliminary accreditation, required for launching new programs, and has proposed a timetable for working out the applications. Each Bachelor study program will be worked out jointly by expert committees set up by the Conferences on Higher Education, and the proposals will be discussed in an academic forum prior to submission to the Ministry. The applications can be submitted jointly or by individual institutions to the Ministry, which forwards them to the HAC for accreditation. The following documents are available on the HAC's Hungarian website:
1. Proposed action plan
2. Accreditation requirements for establishing a new program
3. Formal and content requirements for applications for establishing a new program
4. Application evaluation form
5 Application review procedure
(15.04.2004.)

First meeting of the newly appointed body of the HAC

At the 16 January 2004 inaugural meeting of the HAC for the new term, Deputy Secretary of State Béla Mang presented the HAC members their mandates signed by the Prime Minister. The meeting continued with reports by the outgoing President Pál Michelberger and Secretary General Tibor Szántó about the HAC's past three-year term. After that the HAC members elected a new president, László Fésüs. Professor Fésüs holds a PhD in medicine and a doctorate from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in biology, and is a Corresponding Member of the Academy. He was rector of Debrecen Medical University in 1999 and rector of the newly merged Debrecen University in 2000/01. In addition to his distinguished professional background he has been active in higher education strategy, most recently as chair of the Bologna Committee of the Hungarian Rectors' Conference, and has participated as visiting team member in accreditation procedures of the HAC. The HAC congratulates its new President and expresses its thanks to outgoing President Pál Michelberger for his work at the HAC in the past term
(26.01.2004.)

Parallel accreditation of study programs

HAC committees commissioned to develop an evaluation methodology for the parallel evaluation of study programs have submitted detailed recommendations concerning study programs in History and Psychology. Relevant self-evaluation guidelines, that have been set up based on experts' opinions have been finalized and are available in Hungarian here.
(15.12.2003.)

ANECA

The HAC is concluding an agreement of mutual cooperation with the Spanish National Agency for Quality Evaluation and Accreditation ANECA.
(03.12.2003)

ENQA Workshop on Accreditation

HAC staff member Christina Rozsnyai participated at the workshop held in Rome 13-15 November 2003, where she spoke in two working groups about the recent changes and developments in Hungarian accreditation and the organization of the HAC. The workshop focused on accreditation models in Europe, especially in light of the strengthened role of accreditation following the ministers' conference in Berlin. For more information link to http://www.enqa.net/workshops.lasso.
(03.12.2003)

CEE Network News

The CEE Network held its Steering Committee meeting in Bucharest, Romania on 1 November 2003. The following day there was a workshop, one key outcome of which was a draft Statement of the CEE Network concerning the network member's position vis-a-vis the Bologna process with regard to quality assurance. The final Statement, as approved by the CEE Network members, will be sent to the Bologna Follow-up Group. For more information go to http://www.ceenetwork.hu.
(03.12.2003)

ENQA working groups

In accordance with the mandate given to ENQA in the Berlin Communiqué, ENQA has set up two working groups. One focuses on exploring ways to ensure an adequate peer review system for quality assurance and/or accreditation agencies or bodies which would lead to god internal quality assurance practices of ENQA's member agencies. HAC General Secretary Tibor Szántó participates in this working group. The other working group's aim is to develop an agreed set of standards, procedures and guidelines for external quality assurance.
(03.12.2003)

Projekt Qualitätssicherung

HAC honorary president András Róna-Tas participated at the conference on 20-21 November 2003, organized by the "Projekt Qualitätssicherung" of the German Rectors' Conference, which focused on the new challenges for quality assurance after the ministers' meeting in Berlin. Dr. Róna-Tas spoke about developments in Central and Eastern Europe.
(03.12.2003)

CEE Network News

On 21-22 October 2003HAC staff member Christina Rozsnyai, who acts as the CEE Network coordinating secretary, was asked to speak about history and recent developments of the CEE Network, and quality assurance in the region, in Bonn, where, under coordination of the German organization InWent a seminar was held for the elected members of the Central American Accreditation Council and representative of Accreditation Agencies and Systems of Central America.
(03.12.2003)

Berlin Communiqué

As the latest stage of the Bologna process, the conference of the European ministers of education was held in Berlin, September 19, 2003. The conference concluded its intermediate priorities and defined measures to be taken for further enhancement of the harmonisation aimed by the Bologna process in the Berlin Communiqué. The full text of the communiqué can be downloaded here.
(01.10.2003.)

ENQA General Assembly in Budapest

This year's annual general assembly of ENQA (European Network of Quality Assurance in Higher Education) was held in Budapest (Hotel Mercure), on September 29-30. For more information, including the minutes of the meeting, please visit the ENQA homepage
(08.09.2003.)

High national decorations to HAC members

HAC honorary chair András Róna-Tas and HAC members Gábor Makara and Zoltán Szász have been decorated with the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic on August 20. Congratulations!
(27.08.2003.)

Recommendations by the International Advisory Board

The annual meeting of the International Advisory Board of HAC took place on May 17. 2003. The negotiations thematically followed the topics highlighted in the annual report of HAC. As a conclusion of the meeting, the Board published its recommendations.
(12.08.2003.)

International recognition for Hungarian medical higher education

The US organization for foreign medical higher education and accreditation granted an additional 6 years of accreditation to the Hungarian medical universities in March 2003. Due to this recognition, American and Hungarian exchange students may receive sufficient scholarships in the partner country and the credits earned during the exchange program can be recognized by the home university. The recognition of diplomas is legislated on the state level, and as such, they are not in the board's scope of authority.
(10.07.2003.)