Warwick joins universities delivering Futurelearn offering
THE University of Warwick has joined other leading UK universities to give students from the UK and abroad access to new free, open, online courses.
The courses have been created by Futurelearn, an entirely new company being launched by The Open University.
The universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Anglia, Exeter, King’s College London, Lancaster, Leeds, Southampton and St Andrews have joined Warwick in signing up to the Futurelearn offering, which will be independent but majority-owned by the OU.
The package will:
• Bring together a range of free, open, online courses from leading UK universities;
• Draw on the OU’s expertise in delivering distance learning and pioneering open education resources;
• Increase accessibility to higher education for students both in the UK and abroad.
Professor Nigel Thrift, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Warwick, said: “Warwick already has significant experience of creating and delivering innovative online teaching and learning such as its Teaching Shakespeare programme delivered in partnership with the RSC, its renowned distance learning MBA, and the work of its International Gateway for Gifted Youth.
“We are delighted to bring that experience, and add some of our innovative teaching, to this initiative. This will clearly be an exciting way for a global audience to experience the high quality teaching of a selection of the UK’s top ranked universities. Students will gain access of some of the most exciting teaching and learning opportunities offered by many of the UK’s leading universities.”
Futurelearn will announce further details of its structure and courses early in the New Year.
The initiative has been welcomed by Universities Minister David Willetts, who said: “The UK must be at the forefront of developments in education technology. Massive Open Online Courses present an opportunity for us to widen access to, and meet the global demand for, higher education. This is growing rapidly in emerging economies like Brazil, India and China.
“Futurelearn has the potential to put the UK at the heart of the technology for learning agenda by revolutionising conventional models of formal education. New online delivery tools will also create incredible opportunities for UK entrepreneurs to reach world markets by harnessing technology and innovation in the field of education.”
