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BANGALORE: Over 2.5 lakh Indians have registered for courses on edX, the massiv e open online course (Mooc) platform founded by Massachusetts Institute of Techn ology (MIT) and Harvard University in May 2012 to host online university-level c ourses. This makes Indians the second largest community, after Americans, to register fo r these courses, said edX president Anant Agarwal, an Indian American who grew u p in Mangalore and who has now been teaching the circuits & electronics course i n MIT for 26 years. The courses have been put together and are led by some of the finest professors in the world. Students require just an internet connection. The courses are free , can be normally completed within a duration of 4 weeks to 12 weeks, and those who complete them receive a certificate from the university that provides the co urse. Some 2 million people from 196 countries have registered for edX courses, of whi ch about 6 lakh are from the US, about 80,000 each from the UK and Brazil, and a bout 60,000 from China. For Indians, the most popular courses have been those related to e, engineering, and public health. Globally and for Indians, the r courses are `Introduction to computer science', led by Harvard Malan and Rob Bowden, and the circuits & electronics course led computer scienc two most popula faculty David J by Agarwal.

"Some 2.2 lakh people are currently registered for the introduction to computer science course, and some 3.6 lakh have registered for this course in the past tw o years. The circuits & electronics course has had a total of 2.5 lakh students since it started. About 12% of the students in both courses are from India," sai d Agarwal.

Indians account for about 50% of the 70,000 enrolments in Harvard's public healt h course. Agarwal said this strong interest from Indians was thanks to the Medic al Council of India spreading the word among doctors. edX, a not-for-profit initiative, and Coursera, a for-profit initiative by two S tanford professors, are among the biggest Moocs providers. edX now offers some 1 60 courses including in science, engineering, business, law, history, social sci ences, and artificial intelligence. MIT and Harvard have been joined by several other universities around the world, including IIT-Bombay, in offering courses o n the platform. But only around 6% of those who register for these courses complete them and go on to receive certificates. For this and other reasons, Moocs still has a lot of critics. Few think it can completely substitute classroom teaching. The big pro mise of Moocs is that it can take world-class education to those who are otherwi se excluded for socioeconomic or geographic reasons. But a recent University of Pennsylvania study revealed that over 80% of surveyed people taking Moocs alread y hold college degrees. Agarwal is unfazed by these arguments. Moocs he says are better than what you ge t in many universities, and particularly valuable for countries like India, for students who can't get into the top schools or can't afford them. "Today's gener ation is also used to watching videos. And our courses give a video game-like ex perience. So students are very engaged. We are planning a big push in India," he said. He also noted instances of students benefiting from these courses. "One US stude nt who took our software-as-a-service course added that to his LinkedIn profile and received a job interview call from a company in New York the very next day. Amol Bhave, a high school student in Jabalpur, took my course in circuits & elec tronics. He applied to MIT soon after and got in with financial aid," Agarwal sa id. edX registrations US 600,000 India 250,000 UK 80,000 Brazil 80,000 China 60,000 Total 2 million Most popular courses among Indians Introduction to computer science, led by Harvard faculty David J Malan and Rob B owden Circuits & electronics, led by MIT professor Anant Agarwal Quantitative methods in clinical & public health research, led by Harvard facult y Earl Francis Cook and Marcello Pagano Who takes these courses? High school students: 5% 18-25 year-olds: 40% Over 25 year-olds: 55% Median age of those taking these courses in India: 23 years

Median age of those taking these courses globally: 26 years

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<a target="_blank" href="http://netspiderads2.indiatimes.com/ads.dll/clickthroug h?slotid=38650"><img alt="Advertisement" height="60" width="660" border="0" src= "http://netspiderads2.indiatimes.com/ads.dll/photoserv?slotid=38650"></a> Sort by:Newest|Oldest|Recommended (3)|Most Discussed|Agree|Disagree

Sitanshu Pandey (Unknown) 10 Followers 1 hrs ago Silver: 1.6K

MOOCS are good for students as well as for professionals.

Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

Yajur Mahendru (Faridabad) 23 Followers 1 hr ago Silver: 3.4K

Indian institutes should also start these courses.....I have taken some of the s poken tutorials of IIT-Bombay and also some of the online courses offered by cou

rsera and udacity.......despite of so much of capability the Indian course is mu ch behind than these American courses.....something should really be done since Indians are pioneers in technical subjects.... Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

ankita (pune) 1 hr ago Any course for a dental graduate like in public health n wat all requirements... Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

krish (muscat) 1 hr ago Good paid news. Never knew about this before this article. Agree (0)Disagree (2)Recommend (0)Offensive

Apple () 7 Followers 1 hr ago Silver: 421

its a great thing ........ Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

Ramakrishna Muduli (Bangalore) 25 Followers 1 hr ago Silver: 4.1K

Doesn't it seem Indians are opportunists. India expect all the goods from US but Indians hate US like a step mother. Agree (0)Disagree (5)Recommend (0)Offensive

Venkatesh Ram (Unknown) replies to Ramakrishna Muduli 31 Followers 55 mins ago Gold: 10.4K

Indian public either support or oppose (not hate) depending on what the issue is . Initiatives like this is always welcomed. For example we fully support drone a ttacks on Al Qaeda militants inside the Pakistan territory. There are already se veral joint ventures in India. What we oppose is their attempt to do arm twistin g on trade matters. Every country will attempt to safeguard its interest and the re is nothing wrong about it. Agree (1)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

shashank s singh (Unknown) replies to Ramakrishna Muduli 1 hr ago Bronze: 120

if someone is doing good then it doesnt matter if it is US or UK or any other co untry. Agree (3)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

Apple (Location) replies to Ramakrishna Muduli 7 Followers 1 hr ago Silver: 421

i dont find anyone hating US.

Agree (3)Disagree (0)Recommend (1)Offensive

Ramakrishna Muduli replies to Apple 25 Followers 1 hr ago Silver: 4.1K

Read the news on Crimea issue, you will find your answer in the comment section

Agree (0)Disagree (1)Recommend (0)Offensive

Apple replies to Ramakrishna Muduli 7 Followers 1 hr ago Silver: 421

sometime it seems as if Indians(Who settled in US) are hating India too ..more t han a US CITIZEN..... Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

Kholabernard (location) replies to Apple 1 hr ago Muslims of India do. Agree (0)Disagree (1)Recommend (0)Offensive

Apple replies to Kholabernard 7 Followers 1 hr ago Silver: 421

may be they do so .. Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

Kholabernard (Location) 2 hrs ago Do they offer a course on Allah and Muhammad? Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

James (Goa) 2 hrs ago CourseBuffet is a good place to find all these courses. It allows you to compare the courses side by side. Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

zachariah2020 () 35 Followers 2 hrs ago Gold: 5.1K

Good to know that. But Our Universities should do their academia and curriculum like flexi-credit system to take the courses of the students choice. Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

mickeysheth (Mumbai) 141 Followers 2 hrs ago Platinum: 29.5K

Indian's appetite for higher studies can be seen from this news item. If given g ood opportunity, India can produce so many talented technocrats & scientists. Th e hindrance is high tuition fees. That is the reason, they opt for online course s which are offered at less expenses. Hope more and more Indians would get inter

national degrees and show their calibre in the arena against other country stude nts. Agree (3)Disagree (0)Recommend (2)Offensive

SHNV (Mumbai) 14 Followers 2 hrs ago Silver: 1.8K

Do these courses have any value when it comes to landing a job in India?

Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

Puneet Agnihotri (lko) 2 hrs ago Bronze: 214

it is better if we can use these type of courses for real world challenges after all knowledge free or paid is finally knowledge . Many of us realize need of qu ality education once we have completed our formal education and to keep learning is best way to keep afloat during tough times A

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gree (1)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

Yogesh kumar (Bangalore) 50 Followers 2 hrs ago Gold: 6.0K

I have seen the courses and they are really nice , Agree (1)Disagree (0)Recommend (1)Offensive

Rohan Sule (Unknown) 69 Followers

2 hrs ago Gold: 10.3K

Thats Big Number . Agree (1)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

Sanjay (Pune) 147 Followers 2 hrs ago Gold: 11.0K

Good news! Agree (1)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

mpraomokkapati (mpraomokkapati) 57 Followers 2 hrs ago Gold: 17.4K

Good . All these courses are for getting a better job or job jump. They should g ive the % of Indian students benefitted from these courses. No doubt that these couses will give them an edge. Agree (1)Disagree (0)Recommend (1)Offensive

KPC Rao (Hyderabad) 34 Followers 2 hrs ago Silver: 1.4K

percentage of Indian population to the world's population is the key. Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

Sanjay (India) 28 Followers 2 hrs ago Gold: 5.8K

anything free Indian will jump for that. Agree (6)Disagree (1)Recommend (3)Offensive

Daniel (Location) replies to Sanjay 24 Followers 53 mins ago Gold: 6.0K

haha. True Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

Apple (Location) replies to Sanjay 7 Followers 1 hr ago Silver: 421

R u going to jump ?? Agree (1)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

kholabernard (location) replies to Apple 1 hr ago No. You should. You have lots of time in your hand. Agree (0)Disagree (1)Recommend (0)Offensive

Apple replies to kholabernard 7 Followers 1 hr ago Silver: 421

hw do u knw abt the time ?? Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

kholabernard replies to Apple 1 hr ago Because you are not tending your orchards and peach garden. Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

Rakesh Ranjan (Optimism) replies to Sanjay 104 Followers 2 hrs ago Silver: 1.3K

Well, This is not the anything, The courses are really nice. Agree (5)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

S K G D (Online) 750 Followers 3 hrs ago Gold: 15.8K

Good ! Agree (2)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

AA Rajaraman (Mumbai) 3 hrs ago Silver: 700

beautiful idea and free also. India has such a course (i think) run by IITs but it is for colleges and not useful. We are good at creating and starting things w hich are not open to public and help the least number of people. All our knowled ge, time and money is wasted in various ways which only Indians can devise. We a re specialist in creating institutions which are useless from beginning (such as most of our degree courses) or made useless by the institution itself by not te aching well or by the demand in the market (various engineering courses are comp leted by students who do not get employment in their field of education). We are left with only the degree certificates which are framed and hung on the drawing room hall and displayed after our name on visiting cards, marriage cards and na me broads outside our home or office rooms. Agree (1)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

gt12563 (Location) 21 Followers 3 hrs ago Gold: 11.9K

They are also largest user of Shadi .com and see those girls every time you open any window and they pop up like bees. Are we not tired of seeing again and agai n that add of Shadi .com? Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

Gaurav kumar (siliguri) 16 Followers 3 hrs ago Silver: 1.7K

what are the prerequisites to enroll. Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

FIRE IN THE HOLE (Unknown) replies to Gaurav kumar 39 Followers 1 hr ago Gold: 23.8K

It's similar to khan academy.... But it's for mainly higher education -crash cou rses. Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

FIRE IN THE HOLE (Unknown) replies to Gaurav kumar 39 Followers 1 hr ago Gold: 23.8K

It's absolutely free,prerequisites varies with courses.A speedy internet connect ion is required because u have to attend classes,online laboratory, tests throug h online streaming .Few courses provided by mit,most r from other universities . U'll have assignment after each class .U have to crack midterm and final exam t o get a certificate which will be graded on u'r performance. Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

Hemant Agrawal (Mumbai) replies to Gaurav kumar 1 Followers 2 hrs ago Silver: 1.1K

Absolutely Nothing..you just need a internet connection!! I am currently doing a course on edX Agree (1)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

Venkat (Coimbatore) 23 Followers 3 hrs ago Silver: 4.2K

Indians always love quality education. Agree (3)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

Apple () replies to Venkat 7 Followers 1 hr ago

Silver: 421

agreed. Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

sale.markeeting (Rajkot) 24 Followers 3 hrs ago Silver: 3.7K

Yes ,,, right. Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

kk (London) 3 hrs ago How many are completing? Registering just shows an inclination but completion pr oves determination. Agree (0)Disagree (0)Recommend (0)Offensive

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