MOOCs go viral in India
“If you can’t make it to the Ivies, why not bring Ivy-level learning to you, and for free”, concludes The Times of India. While some universities still doubt the value of MOOCs, online courses are going viral on the Indian subcontinent. Because, “For Indians, who have a thirst for premium, western education, MOOCs make perfect sense.”
Already ten per cent of Coursera’s 4.3 million students come from India, a figure that has ‘astounded and humbled’ the MOOC platform. Standford professor Daphne Koller, one of the founders of Coursera, has seen a 139% increase in enrollment from Indian students, while Indian participation in EdX runs 13%. The Times of India says that IIT Bombay will be joining the institutions that partner with EdX.
“In India, where meeting capacity over the next few years means building and staffing new 1,500 universities, we see Coursera playing a new role in increasing institutional capacity by augmenting in-class teaching with online content,” Koller says.
