EDINBURGH has become the first university in the UK to join a consortium which provides free online access to undergraduate-level courses.
Established in 2011 by senior academics at Stanford University in California, the Coursera consortium is designed to provide online university courses to anyone who wishes to access them. Courses are available to people irrespective of their location or their previous qualifications.
Edinburgh University has agreed to take part in the initiative by offering six specially-tailored Massive Open Online Courses, which will last for five weeks and be available from autumn this year.
Courses are already offered by Princeton University, Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and the University of California, Berkeley.
Edinburgh University plans to include Coursera courses, which have been likened to free taster courses of what higher education has to offer, such as Equine Nutrition and Artificial Intelligence Planning.
Professor Sir Timothy O'Shea, principal of the University of Edinburgh, said: "Enabling wider access to excellent higher education is part of the core mission of the University of Edinburgh. We are therefore excited to join with our peers in North America."
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