Uni offers free online courses

Warwick University is one of the twenty top UK universities to offer free online courses to anyone around the world.

The degree-level courses will be accessed through an online hub called FutureLearn, a private firm owned by the Open University.

While Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are already very popular across the Atlantic, it is understood that this is the first time a UK organisation has been set up to offer them.

Warwick Business School at Warwick University will be running a course called ‘The Mind is Flat: The Shocking Shallowness of Human Psychology’.

Leondrea Tan, a second-year English Literature and Creative Writing undergraduate at Warwick University thought that the programme could offer many benefits to the international community.

She said: “Yeah I think they are good! [It] definitely helps the university to reach out and spread its name. It is a good idea to use the internet to encourage learning.”

David Bell, vice-chancellor at Reading University, whose course is expected to be based around programming, was enthusiastic about the project.

“Offering free taster courses online is a no-brainer. Universities shouldn’t be afraid to open up teaching and research, either in the UK or beyond.

Learning never stops and as the economy’s demand for higher skills rises, universities should be in the vanguard when it comes to providing new opportunities.

“Making courses accessible online, on mobiles and tablets means that people can fit their studying around their lives, rather than their lives around study.”

Universities Minister David Willetts sees the development as “exciting”, and believes it is an important step for the UK to stay at the top end of the education scale internationally.

“I encourage all our institutions to explore the opportunities offered by new modes of technology such as MOOcs.

“This will keep the UK ahead in the global race to deliver education in worldwide markets.”