Institutions of tertiary education may launch courses that the Minister
of Education and Culture has permitted on the basis of the opinion of
the Hungarian Accreditation Committee ( Magyar Akkreditációs Bizottság), performing continuous inspection of the standards of tertiary education.
Permission
to launch a course is issued on the basis of an application that
presents the curriculum prepared by the institution of tertiary
education, and accepted by the institution’s board.
According to
the 2005 Act on Higher Education the right of the Minister of Education
and Culture to launch and approve educational programmes and courses is
ceased. Higher education institutions are entitled to launch courses
that have been adopted by the senate (examining the conditions of the
institution) as part of the educational programme. Prior to launching
an undergraduate or graduate course, or establishing a faculty, the
higher education institution shall request an expert opinion from the
Hungarian Accreditation Committee of Higher Education. The higher
education institution must register the course or faculty at the
Registration Centre and the course must be publicized within the
admission procedure and the guide. The curricula of the initial training courses, specialised further training courses, and higher vocational training
The
curriculum is designed on the basis of qualification requirements, and
the legislation on the credit system. It contains the subjects to be
taught, the number of lessons, the way in which a student may enrol in
that course, and the forms of checking academic performance of
students. Associated with the curriculum is the subject programme that
contains the knowledge to be learnt in a particular subject, and the
relevant special literature.
In the multi-cycle structure the
curricula are designed according to the recommendations of the Dublin
descriptors described and also regulated by a ministerial decree
(15/2006) on the learning requirements and learning outcomes of the
bachelor and master courses of the discipline of educational fields and
branches). The curriculum, learning outcomes, and competence based
learning requirements of the individual courses are described by/on the
base of exit requirements.
The credit regulation and the
qualification criteria determine the minimum and maximum values of the
major fields of study of the course, and the more general areas of
knowledge. They ensure freedom to the institution in designing its own
training programme in the light of its special features, teaching
staff, etc. In any institution the teachers, tutors responsible for a
subject have a great deal of freedom in selecting the methods of
teaching, and the competences to be acquired by the students, and
requirements concerning the amount of knowledge within that individual
subject programme. The institution has a high level of independence: in
the various courses institution management is answerable for the
standards of training at different courses in the institution, but that
responsibility is largely transferred to the faculty actually running
that course, or the heads of department directly responsible for the
subjects.
The curricula are designed and permanently fine-tuned
by the departments responsible for the teaching of the particular
subjects, but the board of the institution must approve the curriculum
prior to amendment or supplementation.
The requirements of the
course determine what level of language skills of how many languages
the student has to have to qualify for a degree.
Because there are many students who meet the language requirements already at upper secondary school
(középiskola),
language learning is usually not compulsory in an institution of
tertiary education. Instead, the individual institutions provide an
opportunity to the students to participate in language training for at
least 4 terms for 4 lessons a week.
An increasing number of institutions have launched
full time training for foreign students (primarily in English).
Hungarian students of the institution may attend the foreign language
lectures free of charge, which may contribute to the improvement of
their general command of foreign languages, and of the relevant
technical language.
The curriculum of the doctoral training
The
organisational framework of doctoral training is the doctoral school.
Approval of the establishment of the doctoral school must be applied
for at the Hungarian Accreditation Committee of Higher Education ( Magyar Felsőoktatási Akkreditációs Bizottság).
Teachers at the doctoral training teach, conduct research, and act as
thesis supervisors. The supervisor of the doctoral topic is a teacher
or researcher of a scientific grade who announced a topic for thesis
with the approval of the doctoral council, and who will, based on that
approval, responsibly guide the studies, and research of the doctoral
student preparing him/her to obtain their scientific grade. The
programmes to be announced and the assignments of thesis supervisors
are subject to the annual decision of the board of the doctoral school
or of the doctoral board of the institution.
The course content, the compulsory and the elective
elements accredited in the different field of doctoral programmes are
approved by the Doctoral Council of the tertiary education institution,
and these are also published on the website of the university ( egyetem) and the doctoral school.
Obtaining
a doctoral degree requires excellent command of two foreign languages,
one of which is defined as an inevitable admission requirement.
Improving the foreign language competence may be carried out within the
grounds of the doctoral school or outside places as well, in the form
of participating in language courses, taking part in training abroad or
international conferences.
Prior to establishing a doctoral
school, the higher education institution requests an expert opinion
from the Hungarian Accreditation Committee of Higher Education. If the
higher education institution disputes the expert opinion, it may apply
to the Minister of Education and Culture to start a procedure.
Organisation
of the doctorate course and the conferral of the doctoral degree is the
right of the doctoral council of the higher education institution. The
doctoral council may be organisationally separate as per discipline of
science and field of art.
The Hungarian Accreditation Committee
of Higher Education must regularly, but no less frequently than once in
eight years certifies (accredits) the quality of training and
scientific performance of the higher education institutions. As part of
the control and supervisory responsibilities of the Minister of
Education and Culture, the registration centre conducts official
inspections and request the Minister of Education and Culture to
exercise the powers specified in the 2005 Act on Higher (examining
whether the higher education institution operates in compliance with
the laws) in order to eliminate any irregularity thus revealed.