Abstract:

Launched in 2011, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) has grown to a huge size. In 2020, the number of participants, excluding China, exceeded 180 million. This meant more than 2,800 courses, 360 microcredentials and 19 online degrees. MOOC platforms have also undergone a reorganization in their market theory approach, with initial gratuities increasingly being replaced by profit-oriented operations.

MOOC platforms offer a huge economy of scale for their operators. Participating thousands of students, sometimes tens of thousands, in each course can generate enormous revenue for platforms, even with relatively low tuition. Although audit participation courses are not as lucrative, they also provide some revenue with the additional services associated with them. At the same time, MOOC service platforms are increasingly narrowing free participation opportunities.
Due to economies of scale, the majority of courses are conducted in English. In addition, even in the main world languages (here again we omit the Chinese), such as Spanish, German and French, some courses have been announced, but the relatively small population of Central European countries has not yet launched real MOOC courses. However, they hold certain online trainings that can even be interpreted as MOOC lobbies.

In our study we deal with the situation in Hungary. We give a picture of the popularity of MOOC in Hungary, as well as the initiatives taken in the direction of simple on-line trainings. We examine this issue through meta-analysis. The Hungarian literature published on the topic will be systematized and rethought. We will think about the possibilities of a MOOC course to be announced in Hungarian, and we will examine the competitive situation of Hungarian higher education regarding the international popularity of MOOC. We analyze the juxtaposition of the traditional brick and mortar universities and the MOOC and try to outline possible future trajectories for the 10-20-30 years of development of Hungarian higher education.

Keywords:

Massive Open Online Courses, Economy of scale, Tuition fee, Brick and mortal university, Place for smaller countries.