BARSONY, Janos
Boszorkany str.2. Pecs, H-7624, Janus Pannonius University, barsony@pmmf01.pmmf.hu
Abstract: In Hungary the Hungarian Chamber of Engineers conducts and certifies the qualification of professional engineers. Practically in every country the qualification of professional engineers depends on essentially the qualification of the engineering degree. There have been some significant changes in recent years that have given cause for concern and that require us to undertake a fundamental review of the educational process. The aim of this paper is to give an overall picture of the situation of the Hungarian quality issue in the field of the engineering degree, as an opening for international comparison.
Keywords: quality, education, qualification, standard, profession
Recently we have had to accept that society does indeed have legitimate claims on higher education. The interlocking of higher education and society is a fact of modern life. It results in the higher education a shift from an elite to a mass system, a shift from a cultural sphere to an economic sphere, a shift from a personal good to a wider social good etc. One of the greatest economical challenges of present age is globalization. The increasingly global economy is driving an increasingly global society. Ramifications for higher education are profound. Such forces increase global competition among universities.
In the past 15-20 years Hungarian higher education was reorganized essentially from the so-called "Prussian" education system to the so-called "Anglo-Saxon" system. This reorganization was given total assistance from the government programs to then Phare projects (normative finance, ECTS etc.).
We have learned new concepts as e.g..: mission, student mobility, credit system (ECTS), compatibility, quick answer for the market, effectiveness in education, normative finance, performance indicators, student-staff rate, program finance, science finance, post secondary education, distance education, long life learning etc.
There has been strong government pressure to increase substantially the rate of participation in higher education. The consequence of this is that the range of standards is becoming wider and more variable. With more opportunities for university education becoming available, the "harder" degree courses are less popular. A further consequence is that the science subjects are less popular in the final years of secondary education, and there are definite signs of reduced competence in science and mathematics. At the same time, there has been a shift in the requirements of industry for professional engineers, and this is one consequence of the rapid development of computer-aided design (CAD).
In the non-engineering subjects there is an equal demand for competence in a professional attitude towards design, reliability, maintenance and product quality as well as relationships with clients, customers and communication skills.
The Hungarian Higher Education Law came into effect from 1st Sept. 1996 (modification is just in process) and the Engineering Education Standard (Government Order) came into effect from 30th Sept. 1998. Basic prescriptions of this standard at MSc level are: 10 semesters - 300 credits - 9,000 study hours in total - minimum 3,600 contact lessons. (1 credit is 30 study hours) The ratio of the subjects is: Management and Human studies 10-15%; Science studies 20-30%; Professional core subjects 30-40%; Differentiated professional subjects 30-40%.
In Hungary the academic accreditation of higher education only shows essentially whether personal and infrastructure conditions of an institution are adequate to the education process in the institution. At the accreditation procedure on the one hand the quality assurance (point of view of customer, the employer) does not have an important role, on the other hand the procedure is not independent ("rivaling" experts), therefore the result is totally subjective concerning quality. The Hungarian Accreditation Board has 30 members, according to the Law 15 members are academics, 10 members are from research institutions and 5 members are nominated by professional bodies. The trick is members must have a scientific degree, therefore all members are academics practically. (Note: This Board has a competence for all higher education, not only for engineering education).
The three methodological approaches to quality: accreditation (peer review system that is primarily influenced by the academic community itself), performance indicators (favoured by the state) and market-led system (consumers - students, academics, the state, employers, professional bodies - oriented approach).
In different countries the situation is different, it depends on power relations. Unfortunately in Hungary the academics are very powerful. In the United Kingdom the accreditation body is called the Joint Board of Moderators and has 25 members, half being academics and half being practicing engineers - all of them are senior and experienced in their profession. They accredit universities and courses in both UK and overseas (based on an agreement - the Washington Accord). They have established guidelines appropriate to engineering profession and to meet local and national needs, but which are flexible. The visiting team comprises two academics and two practicing engineers.
Formation of the market conditions in education and the "mass" education requires unequivocally the implementation of an up to date and effective quality assurance system in the institutions.
The questions are: What is the system like? How sure is the academic accreditation for quality and does it need any additional procedure?
Nowadays the schooling rate of the 20-24 year age-group is 35-40% in the West European countries. In Hungary this rate was 15% at the time of the social change. Since then the number of students doubled but in the meantime the number of staff did not increase. At the same time with the implementation of the credit system the number of contact lessons/week decreased from 37-38 to 22-24. This fact does not cause great difficulty in "chalk-user" education, but it is a problem in engineering education (because of the minimum library facilities and out of date laboratories).
According to the prognosis we will achieve the today's level (35%) of West European countries about 2005-2010.
The state is increasing the number of students in higher education to the highest degree with decreasing institutional cost. It is not accidental therefore quality has become a key word in higher education.
The world experience has proved the implementation and development of a quality assurance system in universities is a very complex problem: the particular issues in the educational process, resistance to change etc.
Implementation of a quality system in educational institution is not an easy task. We can also say as Rector G.R.Whitaker, Michigan University says: "The faculty would like to change the word, but not their own word."
If we want to assure the quality of the education process it also needs to have well-worked university management. This year we have begun to implement the ISO 9000 quality system in our university management. The JPU Regional TQM Center was formed in 1994 and in the past period its work-team has gained considerable practical and theoretical experiences in the field of quality assurance adoption at both industrial and higher education. For example our latest works are the ISO 9000 implementation to 20 designer firms and quality assurance of education process based ISO 9000 to the Human Resources Development Institute of JPU (the international audit was done by TUV Rheinland Euroaqua Ltd. and the Institute obtained the international certification in December 1998). According to our experience in both the case of design, building industry fields and the case of higher education field the implementation of ISO 9000 quality system is a "red rag" (because the activity of design or building or higher education are totally different than the others) for those who have not any practical experience in quality assurance field. I want to point out that the emphasis is not on ISO 9000 but the quality system!! It seems to me if we give an other name for the system in the case of education, it would be more acceptable.
The Quality Advising Committee of the Hungarian Accreditation Board deals with the elaboration of the quality assurance system in higher education in a frame of a pilot project. According to the schedule this new system would be implemented in 2002. My work-team is also taking part in this project.
In Hungary the Hungarian Chamber of Engineers conducts and certifies the qualification of professional engineers. The Hungarian Association of Engineers was formed in 1866. It did not function during the communist era. With the social change the Hungarian Chamber of Engineers (HCE) was again formed in 1989 and it became a public organization in 1996, when the Hungarian Parliament approved the "Act of Designing and Expert Engineers and Architects". An engineering diploma and engineering practice (MSc degree + min. 2 years practice or BSc degree + min. 5 years practice) is needed for the membership of the HCE. The authorization to design or to be an expert has more conditions: a required quantity of engineering subjects in the curriculum and a report on the candidate's training and experience. The HCE has 19 professional branches (e.g. building, structural, protection of environment, geotechnics, electrical, water management, installation etc.). Every branch has a Qualification Committee. These committees control the candidate's report and the candidate's diploma and on the basis of the diploma and practice they may give the authorization to the applied field.
Recently the HCE Qualification Committees have had a problem with the control of the diploma. With the implementation of the credit system and with the possibilities for an engineering student to choose from very wide-ranging subjects (from management to social science) the qualification is impossible on the basis of a diploma only. For example there are structural, transportation, water management, geotechnics and survey professional branches in the field of civil engineering. One can not get authorization for structural design, if mainly water management has been studied at university, in spite of that he has got a civil engineer diploma. Therefore the Qualification Committee needs to investigate the details of the curriculum connected with the diploma. Since last year we have began to elaborate a unified system for required credits in engineering subjects of the curriculum.
The HCE publishes every year a "Register Book of Authorized Designers and Experts". This book is sent to the professional offices, councils, larger enterprises and to the members of HCE.
The only satisfactory way to maintain standards is by establishing a recognized accreditation system, undertaken on a regular basis by an established respected body. Visiting universities and commenting on their teaching methods and standards can be a very sensitive issue. The authority who should be responsible for accreditation is a more difficult question to answer.
The qualification system of the Hungarian Chamber of Engineers is very similar to the qualification procedure of the Engineering Council of United Kingdom, but there is a big difference in accreditation. In Hungary the accreditation has a contradiction to the principles of quality assurance and to terminate this contradiction is a hard task because of academic resistance. "Nobody is prophet in his own country", perhaps for this reason too, it is necessary to give consideration to join the Washington Accord or to elaborate and implement an equivalent accreditation system.
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