SCHOOL-LEAVING EXAMINATIONS - ENTRANCE TO HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Pursuant to Paragraph (1), Article 12 of Government Decree No. 100/1997 on the Promulgation of the Examination Regulations of the School-Leaving Examinations, School-Leaving Examinations can be taken in subjects the requirements of which defined in the local curriculum have been fulfilled by the applicant, in which subject his or her knowledge has been assessed and evaluated with a grade and which he or she can prove with a report card. Accordingly, if the petitioner failed the subjects which he or she wants to take a School-Leaving Examination in, then he or she may not take a School-Leaving Examination in those subjects, as failing means that he or she did not fulfil the educational requirements of that particular subject. Said applicant has the right to take School-Leaving Examination in other subjects, and will only receive a report card in said subjects, if he or she has successfully taken his or her remaining exams. (K-OJOG-385/2006.)

A student asked us in writing about whether he was required to take a School-Leaving Examination in a foreign language, if he wants to get his School-Leaving Examination certificate. We informed the student that pursuant to Paragraphs (4)-(5) of Article 9 of Act LXXIX of 1993 on Public Education, School-Leaving Examinations should always be taken in accordance with the prevailing examination requirements at the time of the examination. The student gives an account of his or her knowledge in mandatory and optional subjects at the School-Leaving Examination. According to the currently effective regulations, mandatory subjects are the following: Hungarian language and literature, history, additionally for those students are receiving national, ethnic minority education: native language and literature, furthermore, if the relevant statute does not contain provisions to the contrary-mathematics, and-with the exception of students receiving national, ethnic minority education-a foreign language. It follows from the above that currently if someone wants to receive a School-Leaving Examination certificate, they have to take the School-Leaving Examination in a foreign language as well. (K-OJOGB-293/2006.)

The last time the option of accepting a foreign language examination instead of a School-Leaving Examination in that foreign language was in 2005. On the other hand, if the admissions procedure to an institution of higher education specifies that an advanced level school-leaving examination be taken in a foreign language, that requirement cannot be satisfied with a school-leaving examination certificate issued this way. (OKM-O-OJBT-167/2006.)

A parent contacted us in email about the circumstances under which her son took the School-Leaving Examination and that the National Public Education Evaluation and Examination Centre did not take any measures to address the situation. We informed her that pursuant to Government Decree No. 100/1997 (VI. 13.) on the Promulgation of the examination requirements of School-Leaving Examination, the examinee or a minor examinee's parent may appeal the decision of the examination board via a petition submitted on legal grounds specified in Paragraph (5), Article 84 of the Public Education Act, address to the National Examination Centre. Pursuant to Paragraph (8), Article 83 of Act LXXIX of 1993 on Public Education, a decision made in respect of a petition submitted on legal grounds, or the measures taken thereon, or any failure to implement said measures can be appealed at an appellate court within thirty days of the disclosure thereof with a reference to a violation of the law. (K-OJOG-446/2006.)

A student contacted us in email saying that an exercise in the School-Leaving Examination in computer science was impossible, because the school did not have the appropriate program. We informed him that in accordance with Paragraph (2) of Article 21 of Government Decree No. 100/1997 (VI. 13.) pens and pencils and other aids shall be provided by the examinees. The detailed examination requirements and description defines the instruments, aids that the school is required to provide. The parent or the student may lodge a petition submitted on legal grounds with reference to a violation of the law with respect to failure to implement the measures determined by the examination board, and if this does not lead to a resolution, the student or the parent may appeal the decision at an appellate court. (K-OJOG-456/2006.)

A student asked us in email about who had the right to review the correction of written School-Leaving Examinations. We informed the student that pursuant to Paragraphs (3)-(4), Article 27 of Government Decree No. 100/1997 (VI. 13.) on the Promulgation of the examination requirements of the school-leaving examinations, if an examinee submits a comment on the evaluation given by the correcting teacher for the solutions given by the examinee to the written examination questions, then the principal shall ensure that a substitute teacher be available at the preliminary meeting to deliberate the comment. The teacher who evaluated the solution may not participate in the deliberation of the comment. Detailed minutes must be taken on the inquiry into the comment and the decision must be published in the form of a resolution containing a justification. The president of the examination board shall initiate that the evaluation given by the correcting teacher be modified, if an uncorrected error, incorrect correction is found, or if the correcting teacher deviated from the correction and evaluation guide. (K-OJOG-454/2006.)

A parent complained in writing about the fact that his child was not awarded a passing grade in the advanced level Hungarian language and literature exam, purely because he failed to obtain at least 10% on the written part of the examination, while at the same time his overall performance was well above the threshold required for a passing grade. We informed him that Pursuant to (2), Article 40 of the Decree on School-Leaving Examinations the performance of the examinee shall be expressed in terms of a grade and a percentage value. If the examination consists of multiple parts, then the examinee shall obtain at least ten percent in each part in order to receive a passing grade in the subject of the examination based on the obtained percentage values. If there are multiple examination parts, the maximum score obtainable in the individual parts are defined by the detailed examination requirements of the given subject. Furthermore, we have informed the complainant that pursuant to Paragraph (5) of Article 84 of the Public Education Act, within three working days of the decision, the parent or the student may submit-to the National Centre for Evaluation and Examination in Public Education-a petition on legal grounds referring to a violation of the law, appealing against the decisions, measures or failure to take the measures indicated by the school-leaving examination board. Pursuant to Paragraph (8), Article 83 of Act LXXIX of 1993 on Public Education, a decision made in respect of a petition submitted on legal grounds, or the measures taken thereon, or any failure to implement said measures can be appealed at an appellate court within thirty days of the disclosure thereof with a reference to a violation of the law. (OKM-O-OJBT-168/2006.)

We informed complainants about the question of how students of bilingual public educational institutions can participate in the Secondary School Competitions (OKTV) as follows.

The problem is twofold. The first one concerns how students can participate in the OKTV and under what conditions, and if someone cannot participate, whether or not that is in violation of the law. The second concerns what kind of benefits can one obtain in the admission procedure to institutions of higher education and whether this is a source differential treatment/inequality between applicants to higher education.

The first question is easy to answer. Participating in the OKTV is not a right. The body organizing the competition has the right to determine the detailed conditions of application, but if it decided not to organize the competition, students' rights would not be prejudiced either. Applicants who satisfy these conditions can participate in the competition, but if someone does not qualify for the competition, he or she shall suffer any damages, as the relevant statutes do not contain anything among students' rights enrolled in public education that would make in obligatory to ensure their participation.

As a starting point for answering the second question, it could be mentioned that students enrolled in bilingual training have an obvious advantage over their counterparts who are enrolled in regular training, therefore they cannot compete in the same category of the OKTV. On the other hand, it would not be an adequate solution, if all students of bilingual secondary schools competed in the same category, as there are not enough bilingual schools in the country to ensure proper competition, which would be even worse, as students could attain significant advantages in terms of admission to higher educational institutions, as a result of a competition between only a handful of participants.

On the other hand, student participating in bilingual education have access to other benefits, which elevate them over their peers in regular education. For instance, their school-leaving examinations automatically provide them with a language examination certificate, and they can learn a language much better and thoroughly than others can. Therefore, the advantages and disadvantages cancel each other out.

According to the information provided by the higher education, area of the Ministry of Education this problem cannot even occur in the future. That is because in the multi-cycle training system there will not be any departments in higher education that only admit few students, and these are exactly the departments where it can be a disadvantage if someone does not have good OKTV results. The bachelor trainings starting in 2006 are mass trainings, meaning they accept a larger number of students than those who have additional points due to their good OKTV results, therefore applicants who have not competed in the OKTV, but still have good results will be surely admitted to the higher education institution of their choice. (K-OJOG-155/2006.)

A teacher contacted us with the complaint that neither she, nor her competing students were allowed to see how the student's papers were assessed. She contacted OKÉV on many occasions in writing and in person as well, but she was told that the law does not allow for such course of action in the case of the OKTV, only that at the end of May-when the deadline for appeals will have already been closed-a general evaluation will be posted on the Internet.

We were unable to launch proceedings upon the request of the petitioner, because our mandate regulated in Point a), Paragraph (2), Article 6 of Decree No. 40/1990 of the Minister of Education does not allow for it (the petitioner is not a concerned party, only the student could have contacted us a concerned party). The above, however, are indeed noteworthy in that they presented the possibility of an educational violation of rights.

Currently, the OKTV competition is barely regulated in the legal sense. Pursuant to Point n), Paragraph (1), Article 95 of the Public Education Act, the announcement and support of the National Secondary School Competition (OKTV) and the publication of the rules of competition thereon is a public educational development task to be undertaken by the Minister of Education and Culture. The minister shall announce the competitions every year in his or her decree on the academic year. The rules and description of the competition shall be published in the official journal of the ministry. The rules and description of the competition is the real source of the actual competition, but as a result of the above it might be different every year, as the minister is not bound by anything when he draws it up. Moreover, if the minister wishes, he or she does not even have to announce a competition in any subjects whatsoever, as he or she is not obligated to do so and the students do not have the right to compete, i.e., to have a competition to compete in.

The description of the competition is very narrow in its scope, it only contains the most necessary data, and it does not mention any statutory guarantees, including the right to view test papers.

Considering that the statutes on public education do not regulate academic competitions, students' rights cannot be prejudiced as a result. Certain places obtained at the competitions can provide the competitors with significant advantages. Therefore, pursuant to Paragraph (5), Article 41 of Government Decree No. 100/1997 (VI. 13.) on the Promulgation of the examination requirements of the school-leaving examinations, the finalists of the academic competition shall be regarded as having fulfilled the requirements of the advanced or standard level school-leaving examination in the given subject in pursuance of the statute and they shall receive an 'excellent' grade and a 100% qualification. Pursuant to Paragraph (11), Article 6 of Government Decree No. 269/2000 (XII. 26.) on the General Rules of the Admissions Procedure of Institutions of Higher Education, those who have obtained an appropriate position at the OKTV shall receive additional points in the admissions procedure. Therefore, it is clear that the competition can have an influence on the results of the admissions procedure of institutions of higher education. That is to say, that in this regard the educational rights of applicants to higher education may be violated, if these academic competitions are not organized and held properly.

Having the opportunity to view the written test papers is one of the most basis requirements in all of the mentioned baccalaureate, or admissions procedures. It need not be explained further how the lack of this opportunity can make the written examinations arbitrary, without control, furthermore the right to legal remedies could not exercised properly either, as requests for a legal remedy could very well be based on what the examinee (competitor, applicant) saw as being violation of the legal requirements.

The above-cited Government Decree No. 269/2000 (XII. 26.) provides for a number of different allowances and additional points attainable in the admissions procedure to institutions of higher education. As a result, additional points can be given for language examination certificates, those who have obtained a respected place at Olympic Games must be admitted, and further additional points can be given for competition results, including those attained at the OKTV. When you compare these, it is clear that the opportunity to exercise one's right to legal remedies is an important part of attaining a language examination certificate, which is ensured by Government Decree No. 71/1998 (IV. 8.) on the Order of language examinations and language examination certificates. The transparency of the competition can be controlled in many ways at the Olympic Games as well, as the International Olympic Committee is doing it. Controllability becomes an issue at the OKTV, in conjunction with the right to legal remedy, which is rooted in constitutional rights.

In summary, it can be established that the lack of statutory guarantees relevant to the OKTV competition can lead to an infringement of rights. The problem could only resolved by legislation. The rules of procedure-including legal remedies-relevant to the largest academic competitions (affording advantages in the above detailed baccalaureate and admissions procedures) should be regulated in a statute, or a ministerial decree. This would also be a serious step towards stability.

Having regard to the above, we contacted the Minister of Education and Culture with a proposal for legislation to stop the educational infringement related to the OKTV competition via legislation. (K-OJOG-395/2006.)

Pursuant to Paragraph (11), Article 6 of the Decree on Admission to Higher Education shall provide those applicants to higher education, if they apply to corresponding specialization, with the maximum available additional points specified in Paragraph (8), who in accordance with rules and description of the competition have obtained a place corresponding to an advanced level school-leaving examination at the National Secondary School Academic Competition and the National Vocational Academic Competition recommended by the Minister of Education. In this case, the total amount points counting towards admission shall be calculated with this in mind. Paragraph (8) specifies 24 points.

Accordingly, the institution of higher education only awards additional points for the competition results, if the subject of the competition is the same as the admission subject to the given institution, i.e., the department accepts applications on the basis of a school-leaving examination in the subject, and the acquired points of the applicant were calculated on the basis of this examination. (OKM-O-OJBT-28/2006.)

A petitioner contacted our Office, because he selected an institution and major for his daughter, based on the 2006 Guide in preparation for the actual application in 2007, and was faced with the reality that the admissions requirements have changed for the given major, as compared to what was in the Guide. The petitioner's daughter took a school-leaving examination in geography and was now unable to use it.

The geological surveyor major of NYME-GFK, referenced by the petitioner, featured geography as an aptitude test (p. 462). This is shown by the "Alk" marking after the code. Moreover, the geography aptitude test was not the only requirement, as an additional examination was also required in geography. This can be deduced from the fact that the rest of the examination subjects were linked to geography with the word "and". Therefore, if one had interpreted the Guide correctly, it would have been impossible to conclude that a school-leaving examination was required in geography.

Nonetheless, the Guide was supplemented in January of 2006. The possibility of supplementation is regulated by law and the Guide itself warns readers on page 24 that applicants should only make a definitive decision after they have checked the supplements.

The supplementary information was published in dailies and on the websites of the Ministry of Education and the National Higher Educational Information Centre.

The supplementary information stated that the aptitude test in geography was cancelled, and no aptitude tests were required by the relevant department.

Based on the above we were unable to establish an infringement of the law. (K-OJOGB-467/2006.)

A petitioner inquired whether it was possible to count a geography examination instead of a German language examination requirement for admission that the petitioner's daughter had taken instead of a school-leaving examination in German, pursuant to Paragraph (9), Article 30 of Act LXXIX of 1993 on Public Education.

The answer to this question is obviously no. The petitioner's daughter fulfilled the mandatory school-leaving examination requirement (foreign language) in alternative manner by taking the school-leaving examination in geography and thus fulfilled the requirements of the statutes on public education applicable to her. This is how she was able to receive a valid school-leaving examination certificate and the related secondary qualification. Admission to a higher educational institution is a different process in that admissions require that the applicant take the school-leaving examination in the specified subjects and no exemptions can be made in this respect. (K-OJOGB-467/2006.)

A student asked us how it was possible to convert his foreign school-leaving examination certificate so that it can count towards admission to a Hungarian institution of higher education. We informed him of the following: Pursuant to Paragraph (2), Article 4 of Act C of 2001 on the Recognition of foreign certificates and diplomas states that the recognition of qualifications certified by foreign certificates and diplomas, if such recognition is to serve the purpose of continued studies in that institution, shall fall into the jurisdiction of the educational institution where the petitioner wishes to continue his or her studies. Having regard to the above, we informed the petitioner the calculation of his points falls within the jurisdiction of the college. (K-OJOGB-2/2006.)

The petitioner inquired as to whether it was possible for her to continue her studies at the university where she is currently enrolled as freshman, as a sophomore if she retook her entrance examination. We informed her that she could not continue her higher education studies within the framework of a new admissions procedure where she left off, because there is statutory minimum term of training. She does, however, have the option of having her already closed courses recognized. The institution can provide her with more information on the way in which credits can be transferred. (K-OJOGB-445/2006.)

We called our petitioner's attention to the fact that statutes on higher education do not prohibit institutions of higher education to hold their entrance examinations on the same day. In addition, they cannot be obligated to designate the date of the repeat entrance examination. Moreover, the dates of the entrance examinations can be found in the Admissions Guide. OKM-O-OJBT-13/2006., OKM-O-OJBT-85/2006.)

A petitioner inquired about how to calculate the additional points that can be given for language examination certificates in her admissions application. Considering the jurisdiction of our Office does not extend to the actual calculation of admission points, we were only able to cite the relevant pieces of legislation as a response to the petition. We informed the petitioner that pursuant to Paragraph (5), Article 6 of Government Decree No. 269/2000 (XII. 26) on the General rules of Admission to Institutions of Higher Education, the institution of higher education can award points for a maximum of two officially recognized foreign language examination certificates, or two foreign language examination certificates equivalent thereto, seven points for an intermediate level type C certificate and ten points for an advanced level type C certificate. In addition, Paragraph (8) states that the total amount of additional points may not exceed 24. (K-OJOGB-409/2006.)