The University of Szeged Partners with Coursera

U.S.-based massive open online course provider Coursera and the University of Szeged (SZTE) are expanding their cooperation, with students and faculty of the institution having unlimited access to the course materials of the world's largest educational platform, according to an agreement signed this Monday in Szeged.

The cooperation will give a new impulse to the development of higher education in Szeged, SE Hungary, and prepare students for tomorrow’s workplace, according to the university.

SZTE Rector László Rovó stressed that his university has made significant progress in the field of digitalization in the past decade. The comprehensive cooperation agreement signed with Coursera – the first of its kind among European higher education institutions – is part of this process.

The professor recalled that the cooperation between the university and Coursera started in spring 2020, when the educational portal supported SZTE's transition to online education due to the pandemic by providing free licenses. Over the past three years, the university's students, faculty and staff have accessed the platform with 2,500 licenses.

The content available on Coursera is a success with students. Experience so far shows that students at the University of Szeged excel in acquiring IT-related knowledge, for example, in data science or programming. In addition, among the more than 16,000 courses completed so far, they have typically chosen courses in economics, engineering, sustainability and communication. The official certificates issued by universities and companies, which are free of charge for SZTE students, can be counted towards their university studies and are a great opportunity to improve language skills, especially professional language skills, the Rector said.

More than 113 million people worldwide are studying on Coursera, and from now on – thanks to the unlimited number of licences – all students and teachers of the SZTE can become members of this community, László Rovó said. He added that secondary school students can prepare for their studies at the University of Szeged through the Coursera for SZTE program.

Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda recalled at the ceremony that the portal was founded in 2012 by Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, two professors at Stanford University. As then, Coursera is still about collaboration. Originally a collaboration between two professors, Coursera is now the world's largest online learning platform, offering the best courses from 275 higher education institutions and companies. Yale, Johns Hopkins University, Google and IBM, among others, offer digital courses that culminate in a certificate from the university or company.