25
October
2013
|
01:00
Europe/London

Manchester expands in online education

The University of Manchester has become the third UK university to join Coursera for the development and delivery of a number of massive open online courses (MOOCs).

The University is currently advertising four of these courses: An Introduction to Population Health; Water Supply and Sanitation in Developing Countries; Our Earth: its Climate, History and Processes; and Global Health and Humanitarianism, with more expected to follow.

Manchester was one of 13 universities to join Coursera this week, taking their total number of partners to more than 100.  Other new members include the Netherlands’ Eindhoven Institute of Technology, the University of Lausanne and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.

The courses (see www.coursera.org/manchester), which are expected to run in the first quarter of 2014, highlight research strengths within the University and the teaching excellence in each of these areas.

Professor Richard Reece, Associate Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, said: “The development of these courses is an important step for Manchester. They will appeal to a broad audience from across the globe, and will form an important part of fulfilling our commitment to social responsibility.

“Signing up to any of these courses will be free to participants, and we expect that many thousands of people will take part. MOOCs are seen by some as the future of online education. While being based anywhere, the ability to be taught by and learn from the world’s best researchers and teachers should not be underestimated.

“Manchester is determined to produce some of the best and highest quality online courses to showcase our excellence in distance education and to benefit both students across the world and those here in Manchester.”

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester, said: “Announcing our association with Coursera signals an exciting time for both us as a leading research-intensive university and for higher education across the world.

“We have three main goals: to undertake world-class research; to deliver an outstanding learning and student experience; and to be socially responsible. The development and delivery of the highest quality open and free online courses from Manchester, to the widest possible audience, allows us to showcase the superb research and excellent teaching that happen here.”

Coursera’s Co-Founder Daphne Koller said:  “We are proud to welcome to the Coursera partnership this group of outstanding institutions from 11 different countries, demonstrating the ever-growing global impact of this movement, and providing students everywhere access to an even more diverse set of perspectives.

“Through these partnerships, we are particularly delighted to expand also the breadth of languages in which courses are delivered, thereby offering yet more students the opportunity to benefit from a high-quality education.”

Notes for editors

Contact Jon Keighren, Media Relations Manager, The University of Manchester 0161 275 8384