ENTRANCE TO HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
The jurisdiction reinstated on 1 September 2004 has had no significant effect on affairs of admission to higher education institutions. This is because by this time the admission proceedings of these institutions had ended and so have ensuing legal remedy proceedings. In 2004, the majority of petitions requested information only, and very few complainants requested inquiries. This is reflected in the number of cases indicated in the report and in the nature of these cases as well.
The legal basis of admission to higher education institutions is the rule laid down in Point c) of Paragraph (2) of Article 64 of the Higher Education Act. Pursuant to this, determination of admission criteria is a specific case of the manifestation of the autonomy of higher education institutions. Universities and colleges establish the number of admissible within their own authority, and select future students from the group of candidates at their own discretion. Naturally, this must take place within the framework provided by the applicable laws. Autonomy does not mean that institutions are not required to respect the general legal principles and the provisions laid down in legislation concerning the admission procedure. In addition to the Higher Education Act, another fundamental legal source of rights in this field is Government Decree No. 269/2000. (XII. 26.) on the Promulgation of the Examination Regulations of School-Leaving Examinations.
The admission-related institutional (and faculty) regulations of the individual higher education institutions have to be mentioned as well, provisions of which are not construed as provisions of legal source, but which are binding all the same for applicants and the institutions as well. Although it is not construed as a legal source, the publication 'Higher Education Admission Guide' of the Ministry of Education (hereinafter referred to as the: Admission Guide) is of particular importance. The Admission Guide is the primary source of information for the candidates; it is rightly called 'the Bible of Applicants'. Due its particular significance it is crucial that it contains only accurate information.
It follows from the institutional autonomy granted by the above quoted provisions of the Higher Education Act that investigating and evaluating the fulfilment of admission criteria does not fall within the competence of the Commissioner for Educational Rights. Our office can only examine whether the educational institution in question has complied with the requirements laid down in the law and the institutional regulations concerning the admission procedure (which has the significance of a guarantee).
As we have previously mentioned, our office is not in a position to investigate whether points received by an applicant are indeed in harmony with his or her performance at the entrance examination, but we can examine based on what principles points were awarded and whether this adheres to statutory provisions.
| The complainant took his school leaving examinations in 1996, and wished to take entrance examinations in 2004. He complained that instead of doubling his points acquired at the entrance examination (which would have been more favourable in his case), the institution considered his points scored at the final examinations in secondary school. According to the petitioner, the university acted this was despite the fact that when he filled out the application form he did not indicate that he wanted his points calculated using his baccalaureate exam scores.
We have determined that pursuant of Paragraph (1) of Article 6 of the Higher Education Act, the higher education institution decides on the basis of a uniform order about the admission of all candidates applying to the given institution (department), faculty, higher level vocational training, training type, state financed or fee-paying tuition. In accordance with general regulations aggregate entrance examination scores can be determined in three ways: by adding up points scored at school-leaving examinations and the points scored at the entrance examinations; by doubling the points scored at the entrance examinations or-on the basis of a decision made by the board of the higher education institution-by doubling the points scored at school-leaving examinations. Paragraph (2) of Article 10 states as a special rule regarding fee-paying undergraduate courses, that the entrance and admission proceedings, as well as the principles and method of ranking shall be decided and determined by the institution itself in its own regulations. With respect to this institutional right of regulation the government decree only makes the restriction that in the year of school-leaving examinations or within the next five years, the determination of entrance examination scores is to be calculated by doubling 'brought'' points (end-of-year secondary school grades or school-leaving examination scores) or by applying one of the methods described above. The choice of calculation method is at the institution's discretion. Paragraph (6) of Article 8 referred to by the petitioner-which states that out of the three calculation methods the one that is the most favourable for the applicant shall be used-can be applied in case of applying to undergraduate training programmes in the year of the school-leaving examinations and for three years after this.
Based on the above the institution was within its rights to determine which of the methods listed in the Higher Education Act it chooses to apply, and has informed applicants about this in the manner prescribed. The regulation regarding the choice of the most favourable option that can usually be applied during entrance examination could not be applied in the petitioner's case because his final examinations were nearly eight years before in 1996 and this exceeds the special beneficial three year time period determined by the government decree.
In light of the above we have determined that there was no violation of rights. (K-OJOG-676/2004.)
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The admission procedures regarding PhD training are considered special issues among entrance examinations. This is not regulated by the above mentioned admission decree. The legal material regarding PhD training is contained in Government Decree No. 51/2001 (IV. 3.) on PhD training and the acquisition of doctoral degrees.
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A petitioner inquired about how to acquire a doctoral degree if he does not have a foreign language examination certificate. We informed him that Paragraph (2) of Article 28 of Government Decree No. 51/2001 (IV. 3.) clearly states that only candidates with university diplomas or equivalent certificates as well as an, at least, intermediate Type "C" state-recognised foreign language examination can apply for PhD training. Pursuant to Point c) of Paragraph (2) of Article 92 of the Higher Education Act, one of the conditions of acquiring a PhD is-among others-certification regarding the knowledge of two foreign languages necessary to work in the given field of science. The statutory conditions apply to everyone. (K-OJOG-584/2004.) |
As we have already reported in the chapter on school-leaving examinations, as of 2005 individual entrance examinations are discontinued and replaced by school-leaving examinations. Naturally the transition to the new system brought up a number of issues. We have informed many inquirers about the changes caused in the admission procedure by the introduction of the two-level school-leaving examination system.
Many were worried that if they wanted to take their entrance examinations in 2005 then they would have to retake the baccalaureate exams. This is based on a faulty assumption.
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We have informed petitioners that in 2005 the order of school-leaving examinations and entrance examinations to higher education institutions will change. As of 2005 entrance examinations shall be discontinued, and in their place results of school-leaving examinations will be converted to entrance examination scores. The decree, however, does not state that students who finished secondary school prior to 2005, who wish to apply to a higher education institution, should retake the school-leaving examination. The grades received for the previous school-leaving examination will be considered as a standard level baccalaureate score with the same grade, with the upper percentage value of the given range in the new calculation system. Students who took school-leaving examinations prior to 2005 have to retake the examinations in a secondary school, but only if wish to improve on one of the grades received during the previous school-leaving examinations or in case they are required to take an advanced level school-leaving examination. Naturally this does not affect the results of previous school-leaving examinations and is not considered a new school-leaving examination. At the same time it is a fact that an advanced level examination provides 7 extra points to applicants during the calculation of entrance examination points. (K-OJOG-426/2004, K-OJOG-491/2004) |
People involved in the 2005 admission proceedings usually start calculating well in advance how they could get the best possible scores during the examinations.
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The petitioner is taking baccalaureate and entrance examinations in 2005. Based on information from the website of the Ministry of Education he calculated that if he performs at 90% at standard level examinations the he will have 120 admission points. He asked us whether he was interpreting the information correctly. We informed him that performing at 90% at standard level examinations would indeed result in maximum admission scores. The candidate performing at 90% at advanced level school-leaving examinations would also mean 120 points. With respect to conversion there is no difference between standard and advanced level school-leaving examinations. As stated by the website referred to by the petitioner, differentiation and the preferring of advanced level examinations is ensured by thy system of extra points. A 90% performance calculates as an equal score in the case of both standard and advanced level examinations, however, applicants taking advanced level exams and performing at least at an intermediate level receive 7 extra points during the calculation of overall admission points. (K-OJOG-430/2004.) |
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