UNITED STATES

University of Texas joins EdX online venture

The University of Texas System plans to put up US$5 million to join the EdX online venture, started by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to help meet demand for low-cost college courses, writes David Mildenberg for Bloomberg Businessweek.

The Texas system, based in Austin and overseeing nine universities, will quadruple the number of schools involved in EdX, which offers free online courses to anyone via the internet. The state-supported Texas institutions have been encouraged by Governor Rick Perry to cut the cost of college education.

Texas follows the University of California, Berkeley, in joining EdX. Harvard and MIT, both based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced the venture on 2 May. Currently, students pay nothing to enrol and take classes online, while those who pay tuition fees to attend the participating schools can earn credit by completing EdX courses.
Full report on the Bloomberg Businessweek site