By Shravan Goli, Chief Product Officer, Coursera
Nearly 70% of the world’s students remain impacted by campus closures due to the coronavirus. Among them are hundreds of millions of students in colleges and universities around the world. Uncertain of when they will be able to fully return to campus, and with many summer internships canceled, students are anxious about the impact of a prolonged disruption on their ability to launch into successful careers. While on-campus education is interrupted, learning must continue. With more than 1 million higher ed students already turning to Coursera during this difficult time, we are humbled by the role we can play in mitigating the impact.
Starting today, college and university students around the world can learn and earn certificates on Coursera for free. Current undergraduate, graduate, or recently graduated students with a verified school email can sign up to get free access to over 3,800 courses, 150 Guided Projects, 400 Specializations, and 11 Professional Certificates. They can enroll in programs for free until July 31 — no credit card required. Once enrolled, they will have until Sept. 30, 2020, to complete the programs.
During this period, students will be able to learn from some of the best instructors in the world and earn credentials from the world’s top universities, including the University of Michigan, Yale University, and Duke University. Professional Certificates from leading industry educators like Google and SAS will help students become job-ready with in-demand skills.
After Sept. 30, 2020, students will continue to have free access to Guided Projects — a hands-on learning experience that develops job-relevant skills like data analysis with Plotly and Python, app development in Android Studio with Java, and social media marketing with Canva. With an interactive experience, students can learn a new skill in under two hours with step-by-step guidance from a subject matter expert.
Coursera was founded with a mission to serve the world through learning. At a time when the future of students everywhere is at stake, we, along with our community of partners, want to do everything possible to help them continue learning off campus. We hope students around the world can benefit from high-quality learning on Coursera — at this time, and beyond.
To learn more, please visit https://www.coursera.org/for-university-and-college-students.