<p>Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have joined hands to launch an ambitious USD 60 million initiative under which they will offer free online courses to students, a collaboration that will be headed by Indian-origin professor Anant Agarwal.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The new online education platform 'EdX' would be overseen by a Cambridge-based not-for-profit organization and be owned and governed equally by the two universities.<br /><br />MIT and Harvard have committed USD 30 million each in institutional support, grants and philanthropy to launch the collaboration.<br /><br />Agarwal, who holds a PhD from Stanford and a bachelor's degree from IIT Chennai, will be EdX's first President.<br /><br />Director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Agarwal led the development of the platform.<br /><br />At Harvard, Provost Alan Garber will direct the effort, according to statements from the two universities."EdX represents a unique opportunity to improve education on our own campuses through online learning, while simultaneously creating a bold new educational path for millions of learners worldwide," MIT President Susan Hockfield said.<br /><br />EdX would draw on the faculty, research, and institutional backing of both universities to provide Harvard and MIT courses to users around the world.<br /><br />MIT and Harvard expect that over time other universities will join them in offering courses on the EdX platform.<br /><br />The gathering of many universities' educational content together on one site would enable learners worldwide to access the course content of any participating university from a single website, and to use a set of online educational tools shared by all participating universities.</p>
<p>Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have joined hands to launch an ambitious USD 60 million initiative under which they will offer free online courses to students, a collaboration that will be headed by Indian-origin professor Anant Agarwal.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The new online education platform 'EdX' would be overseen by a Cambridge-based not-for-profit organization and be owned and governed equally by the two universities.<br /><br />MIT and Harvard have committed USD 30 million each in institutional support, grants and philanthropy to launch the collaboration.<br /><br />Agarwal, who holds a PhD from Stanford and a bachelor's degree from IIT Chennai, will be EdX's first President.<br /><br />Director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Agarwal led the development of the platform.<br /><br />At Harvard, Provost Alan Garber will direct the effort, according to statements from the two universities."EdX represents a unique opportunity to improve education on our own campuses through online learning, while simultaneously creating a bold new educational path for millions of learners worldwide," MIT President Susan Hockfield said.<br /><br />EdX would draw on the faculty, research, and institutional backing of both universities to provide Harvard and MIT courses to users around the world.<br /><br />MIT and Harvard expect that over time other universities will join them in offering courses on the EdX platform.<br /><br />The gathering of many universities' educational content together on one site would enable learners worldwide to access the course content of any participating university from a single website, and to use a set of online educational tools shared by all participating universities.</p>
