Hungarian Ranking History

History of Hungarian rankings – Chronology

  • October-November, 2000: The first Hungarian student ranking research is conducted at the instigation of Atelier of Higher Education Research, on the basis of which, higher education institutional rankings are prepared for eight fields of study. The professional coordination of the standard questionnaire survey based on personal request financed by the National Admissions Office (later succeeded by Educatio Public Services Nonprofit LLC—National Higher Education Information Centre) was conducted by JELTÁRS Atelier of Social Researches.
  • Autumn, 2001: The developers of the first Hungarian ranking inform the members of the Conference of Hungarian Rectors and the Conference of College Directors about the commencement of the ranking program; the leaders of the institutions form methodological comments and criticism.
  • December, 2001: The first Hungarian higher education ranking named UnivPRESS Ranking is published on the website of Universitas Atelier of Higher Education Researches (www.unipresszo.hu).
  • January, 2002: Világgazdaság (p. 6. No: 11. January, 2002) and Magyar Hírlap (p. 14. 29 January, 2002) also publish the results of the UnivPRESS Ranking.
  • Autumn, 2004: The first independent ranking publication, entitled Egyetemek mérlegen [Universities on the Scales] is published, ranking institutions in eight professional fields on the basis of over thirty aspects, building on research on student opinion. The concept of a comprehensive ranking incorporating institutional statistical data, as well as student and lecturer opinions is formed. The publication is prepared by the National Higher Education Information Centre and Universitas Press LLC (eds: György Fábri and Éva Roberts, other cooperating researchers: István Fábri, Csilla Pogány).
  • March, 2005: The first ranking conference is held in Budapest in the Students’ Information Centre. Organisers: National Higher Education Information Centre (NHEIC), Universitas Atelier of Higher Education Researches (2005)
  • Autumn-Winter, 2005: After NHEIC officially informs the ministry, three newspapers publish their independent higher education rankings prepared on the basis of their own methodologies, which have been published every year since then in addition to the Felvi Ranking publications:
  • October, 2005: political weekly magazine publishes university and college rankings, although only around three popular majors. The rankings considering six factors are only published in the supplement of the weekly issue of the magazine to date.
  • November, 2005: a new, independent ranking publication entitled Felvi-rangsor—Egyetemek, főiskolák mérlegen—2006 [Felvi Ranking—Universities and Colleges on the Scales—2006] is published by the National Higher Education Information Centre continuing the UnivPress Ranking in the series of official higher education guide publications. Higher education statistics and precise institutional indexes are published as further factors in addition to student opinions assessing over twenty aspects in the tables ranking practically all universities and colleges.
  • November, 2005: Népszabadság publishes a higher education information guide entitled Felsőoktatás felsőfokon [Higher Education at Advanced Level] in which rankings of fifty majors are presented, however, only on the basis of two factors. Thus the newspaper is the first to compete with the Felvi Ranking books which had started some years earlier.
  • January, 2006: HVG also publishes its first independent ranking publication, entitled Diploma 2006, in which assessments on the basis of eight examined aspects are presented, including so-called absolute (i.e. independent of fields of study) ranking lists. The first HVG ranking is prepared by a professional team coordinated by the researchers of the Education Research Institute.
  • 2005–2009: A number of nationwide student ranking surveys are conducted in the cooperation of NHEIC and Universitas Press, with samples of between five and eight thousand respondents each.
  • December, 2006: The Felvi Ranking is published in the HVG Diploma supplement. From this time on the magazine prepares no individual rankings, but publishes the Felvi Rankings which are also published in the information guides of NHEIC and in Felvételi Tájoló [Admissions Compass].
  • Autumn, 2007: The interactive online ranking version of the Felvi Ranking is published. Visitors can prepare their own rankings (“personal ranking”) on the basis of selected aspects from any fields of study, at the official higher education information website, www.felvi.hu.
  • October, 2008: Heti Válasz also publishes an independent ranking guide entitled Navigátor lining up with the Felvi publications and the independent ranking products of Népszabadság and HVG.
  • Autumn, 2008: The journal Felsőoktatási Műhely [Higher Education Workshop] is first published by Educatio – NHEIC, in which the editors of the journal create an independent ranking section.
  • 2009: The International Higher Education Research Centre of Corvinus University of Budapest initiates Hungary’s accession to the international ranking research programmes with the team of Universitas Press Atelier of Higher Education Researches and Felvi Ranking.
  • February, 2010: A seminar entitled “Chapters of Social-Psychology:  The Perception of Higher Education—Higher Education Rankings” is started at the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology of Eötvös Loránd University in the undergraduate psychology program.
  • Spring, 2010: The professional team preparing Felvi Ranking initiates the establishment of the so called Ranking Council, in order to rethink the objectives, principles and methodology of preparing domestic rankings on the one hand, and to consider international tendencies in ranking research with the help of the most reputable experts in Hungarian higher education and the field of research.