FutureLearn, which was launched by the Open University in December 2012, is a free online platform for courses from 24 UK universities and other organisations such as the British Library and the British Council. It is backed by the government which believes it could leverage British university brands around the world.

“Futurelearn is backed by the government which believes it could leverage British university brands around the world”

In statement FutureLearn CEO, Simon Nelson, said: “We are delighted that more of the UK’s leading universities, along with one of its most popular cultural institutions, have agreed to work with FutureLearn and will join the growing ranks of institutions that will offer high quality, entertaining and enjoyable courses to people across the world.”

Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Learning and Teaching at the University of Sheffield, professor Paul White, agreed. “The digital world is the future. Online education provides a means for the University of Sheffield to engage with learners from around the world and in circumstances we would otherwise never be able to reach out too.”

The US has so far dominated the MOOC market with leading platforms such as Coursera, EdX and Udacity registering millions of users in their first year. However, Europe is trying to catch up: along with FutureLearn the European Commission launched a web portal promoting  European-wide MOOCs in April, offering information and links to around 40 free courses in 12 languages.