Coursera Adds 17 Universities

Coursera has partnered with 17 more universities, bringing the total number of schools partnered with Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) provider to 33. The new partnerships draw from all elements of academe by incorporating private Ivy League colleges, large public institutions, as well as international and specialized schools, the New York Times reported.

As has been the case with many of Coursera’s pre-existing partnerships, most of the newly added schools will only be offering a few classes. However, unlike other schools many of the courses that the 17 new schools will be adding will not be introductions to computer science subjects like programming in Python or designing and analyzing algorithms.

The courses the new partner institutions are scheduled to offer will range from the University of Maryland, College Park’s exploration of quantum physics to Wesleyan University’s survey course on the modern and postmodern. Most of the new courses will begin in the 2013 spring semester.

While there is currently no immediate compensation for the schools who have partnered with Coursera, there are long term benefits. According to a Chronicle of Higher Education report the schools consider their efforts with Coursera an experiment and an opportunity to expand the awareness of their brands.

A recent report from Moody’s identified MOOCs as way for universities to extend their brand into foreign and developing markets, particularly Brazil and India. Coursera’s status as a market leader, with 1.36 million students in over 190 countries, has led to concerns about translating traditional academic expectations across cultural lines.

Coursera’s new partner universities are: