WASHINGTON, October 15, 2013 – The World Bank has signed an agreement with Coursera, a leading provider of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), to help meet the demand for practical solutions-oriented learning on pressing issues in developing countries. Ending extreme poverty within a generation and boosting shared prosperity among the bottom 40 percent of the population in developing countries are the goals guiding the World Bank Group’s work.
These Massive Open Online Courses will be offered as part of the new Open Learning Campus being built by the World Bank, where practitioners, development partners, and the general public can more systematically access real-time, relevant and world-class learning. The Bank has offered e-learning successfully through its e-institute in critical areas of development, such as health, education, urban development and climate change, and is now planning to scale up its offerings through the Campus and through partnerships with regional and country-based institutions and via innovative delivery vehicles. This partnership with Coursera will give people across the globe easier access to valuable, evidence-based knowledge on complex development problems. Working together with 91 educational institutions across four continents, Coursera now offers more than 450 free online college-level courses to 5 million students around the world.