13 - Hungary - Student assessment

Student assessment in tertiary initial training, specialising further training, and in higher vocational training

In accordance with the Act LXX of 1993 on Higher Education the students’ academic performance and examination requirements must be stated by the institution of tertiary education in its own regulations. Creating the relevant regulation (which also includes the main aspects of assessing students) is also the exclusive competency of the institution. The law only requires that assessing knowledge should be usually along a scale of three or five grades, but the institution may employ a different system to assess academic performance.

The main forms of controlling advancement in a subject include: workshop marks, oral tests, examination (simple oral, or complex), work experience, attendance list.

Institutions usually use the five-way scale of evaluation for studies and examinations. However, the credit based system has resulted in new forms of assessment. The government decree on the credit based system allows credit points to be given only for subjects that conclude in some kind of mark. An issue related to the mobility of Hungarian students to foreign institutions, and foreign students coming to Hungarian institutions is that the institutions have to convert the mark received in Hungary to the six-way assessment system of ECTS, and the reverse has to be done to the six-grade ECTS marks of Hungarian students returning home.

The financial support from the European Structural Funds provides help to the transformation of the education and training system, and to content improvement. Institutional consortia were formed in the particular educational and training fields in order to develop the competence based outcome requirements as well as to elaborate the institutional infrustrucural improvements. The National Development Plan 2004-2007 provides HUF 6, 78 billion support to content and structural improvements and HUF 13 billion to infrastructural improvements of institutions that can be applied for. An additional HUF 1 billion support is available for regional programmes.

In the credit based system the teaching of a subject is usually concluded with a mid-term or examination mark. The interim mark is usually based on on-going assessment during the term. The statement of the examination mark follows an oral or written examination passed in the examination period. Earlier that meant primarily single summery assessment, while today on-going and single summery assessments are increasingly applied together.

Elaborating the requirements of the individual subjects, selecting the various ways of assessment is at the discretion of the department in charge of that particular subject. The only effect of central regulation on the department running a particular course of a particular institution is that the Regulation of studies and examinations establishes the maximum number of examinations to be passed in one examination period by a student advancing along the model schedule.

Departments must work out all the requirements associated to a particular subject, number and date of inter-term assessments, and whether the assessment is oral or written (perhaps some combination of the two) for each of their subjects and make it known to the students prior to the beginning of the term (on the notice board, or taking advantage of a recent, and spreading development, through the electronic student registration system).

If a subject includes theoretical presentations, seminars, practical sessions, the curriculum will establish whether the assessment should consist of separate marks or separate inter-term marks for the theoretical part and seminars/practical part, or whether the student’s performance should be reflected in one single mark.

Even though assessment at the oral examination is less objective than at a written examination, in subjects where the knowledge acquired cannot be described as a simple challenge of memory, but it requires understanding, and seeing how a set of information may be applied, oral examinations are given priority. The number of students per teacher has approximately tripled up over the last 10 years, and so many times the teaching staff is forced to stage written examinations when normally oral ones would be better suited for the purpose.

It is typical of assessment that it is not done along a relative scale (ensuring in each grade that students given excellent (5), good (4), medium (3), acceptable (2), and unacceptable (1) marks should be at roughly equal proportions year on year), but the standard is usually the same every year, thus assessment reflects performance with regard to an absolute scale.

Studies are concluded by a complex final examination taken in front of a committee. Legislation prescribes that a commission must be set up with a chair and at least further two members, one of whom is a professional not from the given institution.

Advancement of students in the credit based system is indicated by a parameter of both quantity and quality. The quantitative parameter may be generated on the basis of the credit point linked to the various subject. Students must collect a specific number of credit points in order to obtain entitlement to their degree, thus their quantitative progress is measured by the number of credit points accumulated through their studies.

The quality parameter comes in by the marks obtained, from which an average may be computed weighted by the credit points. The credit index serves to measure the students’ academic performance in any term from both a qualitative and a quantitative point of view. When computing the credit index, the number of credits multiplied by the marks obtained is divided by 30 credit points, which is the average progress in a term.

Students’ assessment in doctoral training

In doctoral trainingthe doctoral student regularly studies, conducts research, and reports their progress.

The regulations of doctoral schools specify university ( egyetem) training, individual preparation, the academic obligations of the doctoral student, the way in which performance is assessed, the number of credit points recognised in doctoral training, conditions of concluding studies, and the conditions of obtaining the doctoral grade.

Doctoral education and training uniformly lasts 36 months that can be divided into reporting periods. The accepted candidate is in student status. When enrolling, the student receives an index book, which is an official document that contains data on the students educational performance and accomplishments.

Doctoral education and training is a research and reporting activity accomplished individually or in small groups in accordance with the specific features of the certain disciplines.

Doctoral students are engaged in a research activity with the lead of the consultant/supervisor. The student must report publicly on a regular basis that is prescribed by the regulations of the doctoral school about the advancement of the research activity. This public reporting happens generally in front of the consultant, the educators and students of the doctoral school, and other interested lecturers and researchers of the discipline. Within the debate that follows the report the performance of the doctoral student is evaluated. Although there is now numerical assessment in this part, the verbal evaluation provides guidance to the further progression of the research. In case of an unsuccessful reporting the doctoral school examines the responsibility of the consultant and the doctoral student as well. It may result in recommendations for appointment of a new consultant/thesis supervisor.

In the first two years of doctoral education and training besides the scientific research, the doctoral student has to take exams on the completion of compulsory and elective courses. The assessment of the examination may be:

1. on a five-way scale: excellent (5), good (4), medium (3), acceptable (2), unacceptable (1)
2. on a three-way scale: pass with Excellency (5), pass (3), fail (1)
3. the institution of tertiary education may use any other evaluation method that must be included and described in details in its regulations of the doctoral school. The evaluation method must fulfil the condition of providing comparability.

Having completed doctoral school the doctoral degree may be obtained by a separate procedure. In this procedure a doctoral candidate may be someone who has accomplished doctoral schooling and also someone who prepared individually. The doctoral candidate status is established by applying for the procedure. The conditions of obtaining a doctorate must be fulfilled within this procedure:

1. Fulfilling the prescribed obligations, and successfully passing the complex doctoral examination;
2. Proving the knowledge of two foreign languages (as prescribed in regulations) that are necessary for academic and scientific work;
3. Presenting the individual scientific work with articles, studies, or in case of a DLA degree the result of a creative/constructive activity according to the field of art;
4. Solving a scientific or art task individually meeting the requirements of the doctoral degree, presenting and defending the scientific thesis, work of art, results in a public debate.

The complex doctoral examination is taken in front of a committee. The committee set up by the Doctoral Council must consist of three members, who all must hold a doctoral/scientific degree, and one of them is an outside expert that is not employed by the institution of the particular tertiary education. The evaluation and assessment of the complex doctoral examination is the same as in doctoral exams.

Eurydice - the information network on education in Europe

Date: 2009
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