The purpose of the accreditation process is to verify and certify that doctoral schools and programmes intended to be established by the higher education institutions (HEIs) and those already operating are in line with the quality assurance standards and guidelines of the European Higher Education Area.
The accreditation of doctoral school is intended to provide assurance that the doctoral school intended to be launched or operated within the HEI functions in line with the ESG (Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area), has a quality assurance system in place, covering both the institution and the doctoral school, which monitors and assesses compliance with the standards on an ongoing basis, and uses the assessment results to actively develop actions and processes to promote implementation of the standards.
The MAB established the following procedures for the external quality assurance of doctoral schools:
Periodical verification of quality: the MAB performs accreditation for existing/operating doctoral schools every five years at the request of the higher education institution.
At its meeting of 10 July 2025, the MAB Board adopted the core document of integrated institutional accreditation by Resolution No. 2025/4/VII. In line with the evolving expectations of international accreditation systems, the document takes a holistic approach to institutional operations, thereby supporting the external evaluation of institutions’ internal quality assurance processes covering their entire portfolio of study programmes, including the doctoral programmes provided by doctoral schools. During the implementation period of the integrated institutional accreditation procedure, MAB provides an opportunity to align accreditation periods in cases where the accreditation periods of the institution and its doctoral school differ significantly. A request for a technical extension of the accreditation period may be submitted to the MAB Board only after an ESG-based status report has been submitted and its content has been evaluated.
Establishment of new doctoral schools: pursuant to Section 71/B (d) of Act CCIV of 2011 on national higher education and Section 6 (3) of Government Decree 387/2012 of 19 December 2012 on doctoral schools, doctoral procedures and habilitation, the MAB contributes an expert opinion at the request of the higher education institution.
Adding a new branch of science to a doctoral school: pursuant to Section 71/B (d) of Act CCIV of 2011 on national higher education and Section 6 (4) of Government Decree 387/2012 of 19 December 2012 on doctoral schools, doctoral procedures and habilitation, the MAB contributes an expert opinion at the request of the higher education institution.