Coursera teams up with Google, Snapdeal to develop online courses

Online education firm Coursera has partnered corporates across the globe, including Snapdeal and Google, to offer job-oriented courses. Coursera offers courses from top global universities like Duke, Caltech, Stanford and Princeton and had signed its first partnership in India with Indian School of Business last year. Experts at Google, Instagram and Snapdeal are among the first industry partners to support the Capstone Projects for Coursera specialisations. They help learners develop an expertise or master new skills with university teaching and market perspective of top industry partners. Coursera offers specialisations from 19 university partners in fields including data science, digital marketing, music production and global affairs. Snapdeal and Shazam have partnered with The Wharton School, while Instagram will work with University of California, San Diego and 500 Startups with University of Maryland. Google has partnered with University of Maryland and Vanderbilt University, Johns Hopkins University and iHeartMedia with Berklee College of Music have already conducted pilots. “In a job market that is increasingly filled with job descriptions that didn’t exist a decade ago or less, workers and employers alike are recognising the value of online certificates,” Coursera CEO Rick Levin told PTI. “Approximately half of Coursera’s learners come to us seeking knowledge to boost their careers, and that ratio is even higher in places like India where online learning certificates have gained early acceptance,” he said. Companies help design projects with real world problems and in many cases, provide direct feedback to top performers in the Capstone, Levin said. At the end, learners are left with a project they can add to their portfolio that demonstrates industry proficiency to potential employers and the world, he said. “We are excited about our association with The Wharton School through Coursera to play a key part in building knowledge capital of the digital future on a global canvas,” Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl said. The four courses and the final Capstone Project take approximately 5 months to complete. These courses are charged at USD 595. All of the courses are also available for free without Verified Certificates, excluding the Capstone Project. “The Wharton Business Foundations Specialisation will be an opportunity for entrepreneurs in India to learn the basic skills they need for running a company,” Levin said. Coursera is also in talks with educational institutes and firms in India as it looks to further expand presence in the Indian market, one of its top-five revenue generators. It offers about 800 courses from 115 universities. Its largest market is the US, where it has close to 4 million users. Globally, it has about 10 million people undertaking various courses through its platform. PTI