a) Global & Domestic Market Size
eLearning is more and more widespread in the European Union while in the US, the first signs of finding the right way have appeared after the disappointment following a boom (Blended Learning - bLearning). Though the spread of eLearning is supported by the EU through different community programmes (eEurope, Socrates, Minerva, FP5), the US has a significant advantage, both technological, pedagogical and otherwise. The large market size makes it difficult to catch up with.
As to the present state of eLearning in Hungary, significant experiences have been accumulated in harmony with general tendencies especially in the internal training of the multinational companies (some of them being eLearning technology developers, others ICT distributors like Oracle, IBM, Cisco etc.) and in the area of high education. At the same time, the spread of eLearning is not yet extensive. eLearning initiatives have become crucial in the internal training of leading companies using one of the known foreign Learning Management Systems (Matáv, banks and other financial organizations etc.).
b) Global & Domestic Number of Users
As to estimations, 30,000-35,000 people are trained in eLearning system in Hungary yearly (internal trainings of multinational companies, vocational training: Cisco Academy, IT professions, adult training etc.). The number of those who are trained in courses applying eLearning elements is about 150,000-160,000 thousand (at secondary schools the so called "SchoolNet" Programme; in vocational training about hundred courses supported by Apertus Foundation for Open Training and Distance Learning; in higher education Dennis Gabor College, St. Stephan University; in adult training: ECDL).
Public education is nearly untouched by eLearning methods: about 4500 primary schools and about 1500 secondary schools with 1.5 million pupils and thousands of teachers have so far not been able to benefit from eLearning offers.
c) Name of Leading Global & Domestic Players
Multinational companies which play a decisive role globally in eLearning (IBM, Oracle etc.) as well as medium sized companies which distribute different technologies (e.g. Learning Management Systems: WebCT, Blackboard etc.) are present on the domestic market. The most significant domestic players in eLearning are:
- Developers, service providers: Matáv Training Centre, Synergon Co., Eduweb Ltd., Mimoza Ltd., IBCnet Ltd., Sabedu Ltd., Krea Ltd., Számalk Co., HLC Ltd., National Textbook Publishing Co., Encyclopaedia Humana Association, MCONet, Educatio
- "Buyers": Dennis Gabor College, St. Stephan University; schools and organizations of vocational training (CISCO Academy, ECDL etc.); leading companies and organizations of adult training (Matáv, Hungarian Post Office, Hungarian Airlines, banks etc.)
- Supporters: EU community programmes, programmes of Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Informatics and Communication, Apertus Foundation for Open Training and Distance Learning, Hungarian Foundation of Distance Learning, National Institute of Vocational Education, National Institute of Adult Training, Joint Committee of the Hungarian Association of Content Industry and the Association of Hungarian IT Companies on eLearning Standards
d) Actual Business State
In Hungary, eLearning is facing a significant development. A growth is guaranteed by the government strategy The Programme of the Hungarian Information Society. The EU expectsthat the number of people trained in adult education yearly increases from 150.000 to 800.000 by 2006.
The number of students in public higher education doubled during the last ten years. This trend is likely to continue. eLearning thus offers a solution for shortages in the traditional infrastructure of higher education.
e) Expectations of Future eLearning Business
The further significant spread of eLearning technologies goes hand in hand with observable global tendencies, EU community programmes and the present domestic situation.
Courseware development is worthwhile even in international respects because Hungarian content developers are well trained, creative and low-waged (human resource). Even to international standards achievements have been made in particular fields of content (like music, maths and physics, conductive pedagogy etc.). |
