Coursera teams up with 5 universities for six new online degree progs

Online education platform Coursera has teamed up with various universities around the world to offer six new online degree programs.

The participating universities and the degrees are- Arizona State University offering a Master of Computer Science; Imperial College London offering a Global Master of Public Health; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offering a Master of Computer Science; and both a Master of Applied Data Science and a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan. University of London’s offer of a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, meanwhile, represents Coursera’s first move into undergraduate degrees.

Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera, said, "We are realising that the vast reach of MOOCs makes them a powerful gateway to degrees. We are working with our university partners to build degrees on top of our open online learning platform that is high quality, modular, affordable, and scalable."

So far the degree program has been limited. Coursera has only worked with two universities to date, the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, which offers three degrees on Coursera covering a master of computer science, a master of science in accountancy, and an MBA; and business school HEC Paris, for a master’s in innovation and entrepreneurship.

The new programs are expected to launch later this year or in 2019.