Coventry University has partnered with social learning company FutureLearn to offer 50 postgraduate degrees delivered entirely online over the next five years.
The UK-based institution is FutureLearn’s second partner to offer this type of degree program, following in the footsteps of Australia’s Deakin University, which began offering its portfolio of postgraduate online degrees at the start of the year.
Coventry University’s degree programs will be rolled out from early 2018.
“I think it’s a market internationally that is ripe for transformation”
Simon Nelson, CEO of FutureLearn, said he hoped the first agreement would “herald the start of a pipeline of new partnerships in this area”.
“We think with [Coventry] and Deakin, we’re starting to deliver some real innovation in the area of academic qualifications,” he said.
The postgraduate courses will be offered in a variety of fields across business and law, engineering, and health and life sciences.
Students will be able to take the courses at their own pace, and can study either full time lasting one year, part time for two years, or ‘informally’ up to four years.
Ian Dunn, deputy vice-chancellor at Coventry University, said the growth of the institution’s online programs “will be a catalyst to revolutionise the way we teach at our university”.
“Higher education is not limited by the physical or geographical boundaries that it once was,” he said.
“And we believe online learning has a huge role to play in the future of undergraduate and postgraduate scholarship.”
Nelson added that the medium of online learning is one way that international students can be attracted to come to the UK for further study.
“But also there’s now nothing stopping us taking that learning out into those territories unrestricted by traditional national borders, and delivering high quality, online learning straight to the learner at their home and enabling them to develop personally or professionally within their own country,” he said.
“I think it’s a market internationally that is ripe for transformation.”
FutureLearn also recently announced five US university partners that will offer short courses on the learning platform.
