“For me personally, this is a success in protecting the interests of our students and at the same time a significant qualitative shift in the provision of these doctoral programmes and more. Irrespective of the National Accreditation Bureau’s checks and comments, we have tried to set standards in these study programmes that correspond to transparent provision of education,” said Jan Mareš, Rector of MENDELU.

The administrative proceedings were initiated in March 2022 following an inspection carried out at the Faculty of Economics in 2021. In May 2022, the NAB Council decided to withdraw institutional accreditation, i.e. the right to accredit new study programmes within the university. “In July, we appealed against this decision in accordance with the Administrative Code. At the same time, the NAB Council decided to conduct an extensive on-site review of 48 degree programs across our university by an NAB committee in the summer of 2022,” Mares explained.

Following the university’s appeal, the NAB Review Committee overturned the NAB Council’s decision to withdraw institutional accreditation in August 2022 and returned the matter to the NAB Council for reconsideration. At its meeting in January 2023, the Council decided to withdraw the institutional accreditation and at the same time decided to terminate the authorization to carry out education in three economic doctoral degree programmes at the Faculty of Business and Economics.

“After careful consideration, we decided to file an appeal in which the university objected to the decision to terminate the authorization to pursue education in three doctoral programs in economics,” the rector explained. The NAB review committee overturned the contested part of the January 2023 decision and stopped the proceedings.