2 lakh students benefit from online courses

The University of Edinburgh has reached a significant milestone in its aim to offer free, higher education-standard online courses to all.

More than 200,000 people from around the world have signed up for Edinburgh’s Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) since their launch in July 2012.
Edinburgh was the first university in the UK to join the Coursera consortium, which brings together universities from around the world to offer free MOOCs across a range of subject areas.

Edinburgh’s six offerings include courses on ‘Astrobiology and the Search for Extra-terrestrial Life’, ‘Equine Nutrition’ and ‘Introduction to Philosophy’.

Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea, Principal of The University of Edinburgh, said:
“These are exciting opportunities for us to offer satisfying learning experiences to so many people worldwide. Our success in attracting learners to experience what Edinburgh has to offer, at no cost to themselves, complements our rapidly expanding efforts in providing other forms of online learning, including full postgraduate and other distance-learning courses.”

Edinburgh has pioneered a variety of online learning experiences. Currently, almost 2,000 students from 114 countries are enrolled on 42 online-only taught Masters programmes, with an aim of attracting 10,000 students over the next decade.
Online Masters students are able to experience virtual graduations, by using the Second Life virtual world.

Edinburgh’s innovative work with Second Life resulted in an Edublog Award for Best Educational Use of a Virtual World.

Edinburgh’s online lecture series Our Changing World has attracted over 1million views.