Aditya Ghosh, 17, has taken up a course in mathematical thinking at Stanford University as well as mechanics at MIT while staying put at his cosy home in Kolkata. Shaheen Firdausi, 18, too chose photojournalism as well as a music course from University of London as she stayed laid back at her home in New Delhi. All these instances have been possible due to popular MOOCs provided by acclaimed education institutes across the globe. MOOCs are bringing global education at the doorstep of all individuals and lets premium education become a reality effortlessly.
What are MOOCs?
MOOCs actually stand for Massive Open Online Courses which are global courses meant for distant education. The technological development in IT and communication fields have been aptly utilized in this method of education which has been possible courtesy the internet. MOOC courses provide the topmost premium level education hailing from the leading education institutes across the world. Hence global education for someone who always dreamt of studying abroad but could not fulfil his wish somehow has now found a new ray of hope to make the dream an instant possibility. MOOCs have ensured that now the student does not need to go the university but the university itself comes to the doorstep with its basket of education ready for the student.
How famous is it among Indians?
MOOCs have been welcomed warmly by a large section of Indian students who had always wanted to join the Ivy League institutes but could not convert that wish to reality. Top US-based MOOCs like Coursera, Udacity and EdX have enrolled a large number of Indian students and seem literally overwhelmed by the response generated. Sources have revealed that Coursera has almost 4.3 million students worldwide out of which 10% of the students are Indians. The popularity of MOOCs among Indians can be clearly understood by the fact that outside US, Indians constitute the largest share of students enrolled under Coursera. It has even shown a growth of 139% among Indian students in the past 6 months. The percentage of Indians in EdX is even higher at 13%.
Reasons for popularity in India
The reasons for the unprecedented popularity of MOOCs in India are not too complicated to understand. Since times immemorial Indians have regarded western education to be superior to ours. This can attributed as the prime reason behind the fact that the most number of foreign students studying in US and UK belong to India. The unfulfilled wish of millions of Indians to study in such highly regarded places with premier institutes now have the scope to see daylight. They have taken up courses offered by their dream institutes like Stanford, Harvard, MIT, University of London and many more with gleeful hearts.
What the future has in store
Current trends already show that MOOCs will continue to gain exponential popularity among the Indian masses. They have provided a glimpse of hope to the great Indian education dream which the Indians have grabbed with both hands. The realization of unfulfilled dreams means a lot to the students. Not only will it help in all-round development of the students but also act as a morale booster for them. It is hoped that whatever the courses have in offer will eventually turn beneficial to the student’s as well as the nation’s prospect.