This publication is part of the OECD programme of work on higher education policy and was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union.
The OECD is grateful for the support of Agota Kovács at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) and Dr. Laura Sinóros‑Szabó and Attila Szabó at the Department for Strategy and Institutional Development in Higher Education in the Hungarian Ministry for Innovation and Technology (MIT). Together with the OECD team, the DG REFORM and MIT team formed the advisory group for the project “Supporting the Digital Transformation of Higher Education in Hungary”, setting the direction for the project and providing regular advice and feedback on the project’s activities and outputs.
Warm thanks go to many stakeholders in Hungary’s government agencies, higher education institutions, and other organisations involved in activities relevant to the digitalisation of higher education, all of whom shared their time and insights during the project’s interviews, roundtable discussions and international expert meeting on measuring digitalisation in higher education (a list of participating organisations is included in Annex A). The insights and opinions of Hungarian stakeholders provided the OECD team with important information that contributed to the analysis and recommendations contained in this report.
We are also grateful to the national and international experts who took the time to share their expertise and experience with the digitalisation of higher education systems with the OECD team as part of the background analysis conducted for the project, and with the Hungarian stakeholders who participated in the international expert meeting. Experts who contributed to the project through interviews with the OECD team, written contributions supporting the analysis, and/or presentations at the international expert meeting include: Juan Alegret (Blackboard Inc., Europe), Marianna Bodolai-Marcsek (MIT, Hungary), Catherine Cronin (National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, Ireland), Johanna de Groot (SURF, Netherlands), Dirk Ifenthaler (University of Mannheim, Germany), Jasmijn Jacobs-Wijn (SURF, Netherlands), László Kovács (Kodolányi János University, Hungary), Tara Lawley (Department of Education, United States), János Levendovszky (Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary), Terry McGuire (National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, Ireland), Mirela Music (European Commission), János Setényi (independent expert supporting the Digital Higher Education Competence Centre/Digital Success Nonprofit Ltd.) and Cathrine Tømte (University of Agder, Norway).
This report was prepared by the OECD’s Higher Education Policy team in the Directorate for Education and Skills with contributions from external experts (Jonathan Medow, Oliver Sheldrick, Roger Smyth and Carlos Teixeira). Patricia Mangeol was the project leader responsible for co-ordinating the review. The authors of this report were:
Chapter 1 (Introduction): Patricia Mangeol, with research assistance from Carlos Teixeira and Chloé Michaud
Chapter 2 (The state of digitalisation of higher education in Hungary): Roger Smyth and Patricia Mangeol, with research assistance from Carlos Teixeira
Chapter 3 (Policies to support the digitalisation of higher education in Hungary): Roger Smyth and Patricia Mangeol, with research assistance from Carlos Teixeira
Chapter 4 (Measuring the digitalisation of higher education in Hungary): Patricia Mangeol, Roger Smyth and Shizuka Kato, with research assistance from Jonathan Medow and Oliver Sheldrick
Annex A (Summary of stakeholder interviews, institutional roundtables and the international expert meeting): Carlos Teixeira and Cléa Frambourt
Annex B (Stakeholder consultation survey summary): Shizuka Kato
Annex C (Summary of comparative study): Carlos Teixeira.
The authors also wish to thank colleagues in the OECD for their input and advice, including Gillian Golden, Andrea-Rosalinde Hofer, Tomoya Okubo, Lisa Troy and Stéphan Vincent‑Lancrin (Directorate for Education and Skills) and Raffaele Trapasso (Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities).
Thomas Weko, Team Leader and Senior Analyst of the OECD Higher Education Policy Team, provided analytical guidance and advice throughout the project. Paulo Santiago, Head of the Policy Advice and Implementation Division in the Directorate of Education and Skills, and Andreas Schleicher, Director of the Directorate for Education and Skills, reviewed the publication.
Julie Harris edited the report; Cassandra Morley, Stephen Flynn and Cécile Bily provided administrative support to the project. Rachel Linden assisted with the editorial and production processes, and Chloé Michaud supported the implementation of the online stakeholder consultation survey.
While the report draws on data and analysis from the OECD, data and information provided by Hungarian stakeholders to the OECD team and a range of other published sources, any errors or misinterpretations remain the responsibility of the OECD team.