Universities offer online courses worldwide

BDLive 05 December 2014

Two top South African universities are, for the first time, offering massive online open courses – MOOCs – to thousands of students through international MOOC providers, writes Tanya Farber for BDLive.

The University of the Witwatersrand, or Wits, last week said it was partnering with non-profit MOOC provider edX, which was founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT. The edX community in Africa has more than 200,000 students who will now be able to access free courses offered at Wits for which they will receive an edX certificate on completion – and for which they will not have to pay a cent.

While the courses will be open for enrolment towards the end of next year, learners signing up for MOOCs through the University of Cape Town can enrol as early as next month. University of Cape Town Deputy Vice-chancellor Sandra Klopper said: “The university has decided to develop its own MOOCs because it believes that the university has knowledge and learning that would be of interest to people both locally and in other parts of the world.” In June, the university announced it would be joining British-based MOOC provider FutureLearn.
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