| | 20 September, 2012
| | Hebrew University partners with Coursera to offer free online courses to people everywhere | | Joins top U.S. and international universities to make quality content available outside classroom |
 | | Coursera's founders: Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng |
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The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has joined leading universities in the U.S. and elsewhere in signing an agreement with Coursera to offer online courses at no cost. The initiative will enable millions of people worldwide to learn from Hebrew University faculty who are leaders in their fields.
Coursera has already partnered with leading universities such as Caltech (California Institute of Technology) and Johns Hopkins, Princeton and Stanford universities. The Hebrew University is the first Israeli university to join the program.
Coursera offers roughly 200 undergraduate and graduate courses in a broad range of disciplines, including medicine, literature, history and computer science, among others. Along with lectures, the courses may include assignments, exams, online and in-person discussion forums, and more.
The Hebrew University will initially offer three courses, with the goal of adding more over time. The courses will be taught by Prof. Idan Segev, Prof. Idan Segev, head of the Department of Neurobiology and member of the Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation; Prof. Yaakov Nahmias, director of the Center for Bioengineering; and Prof. Jonathan Garb, the 2010 recipient of the Hebrew University President’s Prize for Outstanding Researcher, who teaches at the Department of Jewish Thought at the Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies.
Hebrew University President Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson said, “The Hebrew University's mission is to share our knowledge and research with the world, and we welcome this opportunity join with other top universities to satisfy the worldwide hunger for education. Technology will play an ever-increasing role in the delivery of knowledge to diverse populations, from university students to people who have no access to formal learning. We are particularly impressed by Coursera’s vision, technology platform, and focus on partnering with top-tier universities to make quality content available outside the classroom. We look forward to learning from this experience in offering massive open online courses.”
Coursera co-founder Daphne Koller said, “Coursera is dedicated to creating better educational opportunities inside and outside the classroom, and we could not do it without the blessing and commitment of universities. We’re fortunate to have the support of top academic institutions like the Hebrew University as we move toward our shared goal of providing a high-quality education to everyone around the world.”
Coursera was founded in 2011 by Stanford University professors looking for a way to use technology to bring higher education to more people. Backed by leading venture capital firms, Coursera is on a mission to change the world by educating millions of people, by offering classes from top universities and professors online for free. Coursera courses now reach over 1.3 million students across the globe.
For further information and registration please visit www.coursera.org
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