In the first six months of 2019, the Tempus Public Foundation (TPF) and ACA completed assessments of the internationalisation strategies and activities of four Hungarian universities. The institutions in question are the University of Szeged, the University of Pècs, the University of Miskolc and the Budapest Business School. They have in the meantime received their participation certificate as well as a set of recommendations.

The present series of assessments commenced in 2018, with a similar exercise having already been conducted in 2012 – 2015 (see the ACA Newsletter – October 2017 edition). The methodology of the earlier and of the present rounds are similar, with the present one building on the experiences made in the initial round. The assessments concentrate on the international dimension of the universities’ work. They follow a classical three-stage approach, consisting of the production of a self-assessment report of the institution in question, followed by a site visit of a group of three experts (peers), and by the production of a short report of the expert team with recommendations for the consideration of the university. While two experts are Hungarian (or employed in Hungary), the third one is ‘international’, i.e. from outside of Hungary. TPF had entrusted ACA with the task of forming a pool of international experts, which consists of staff of the ACA Secretariat, staff of ACA member institutions or staff of higher education institutions nominated by an ACA member.

There are two variants of this assessment instrument: first-time assessments, i.e. assessments of universities which did not take part in the initial 2014 - 2015 series, and re-assessments of universities that already participated earlier.

All four visits in the first half of this year were re-assessments. Partly because of their involvement in the earlier round, ACA Secretariat staff members Bernd Wächter and Queenie Lam together were part of three visits. The ACA Vice-President Karin Kiissler of the Archimedes Foundation was the international expert at the fourth institution.

The overall findings of the re-assessments are very positive. In most universities, palpable progress has been made in recent years. This goes for the quality of internationalisation, the volume of activities and also for matters of organisation, governance and structures.

More information here.