The leading MOOC provider for the Spanish speaking world, Miríada X, has been rolled-out globally expanding the platform’s reach beyond Europe into the wider Latin American market where increasing broadband availability is driving demand for online education.
Miríada X has been operating in Spain for a little over a year but has been introduced to Latin American users by developers Telefónica and Banco Santander.
“In Latin America, there is a growing need for education and a generation that is clearly committed to technology,” said César Alierta, president of Telefónica at the launch in Rio de Janeiro last month.
“In Latin America, there is a growing need for education and a generation that is clearly committed to technology”
“This together with high penetration and accessibility of internet connectivity supports a solid foundation for success for Miríada X.”
Launched in 2013 thanks to a €4m investment through Telefónica’s Telefónica Learning Services and Banco Santander’s university partner network Universia, Miríada X has already hosted 153 courses in Spanish and Portuguese, partnered with 33 universities in Spain and Latin America and amassed a community of 990 professors.
With 750,000 students, the company claims to be the second-largest MOOC platform in the world after Coursera that has more than 22 million sign ups. However, it falls behind US-based platform EdX who reported in January to have reached almost 900,000 enrolments.
Still the introduction of Miríada X to Latin America solidifies its place as one of the most important MOOC platforms for the Spanish and Portuguese speaking worlds where access to English-taught education is low.
The company estimates there are some 600 million potential students in the region.
To answer demand for MOOCs among Spanish speakers, Coursera partnered with Mexico’s Carlos Slim Foundation earlier this year to create a new Spanish interface and aims to translate 50 courses by the end of 2014.
Meanwhile in Brazil, education platform Veduca has been translating courses from leading institutions including Harvard, Stanford and Oxford into Portuguese since 2012.
It has had more than three million unique visitors and secured US$1.3m in investment mostly from Bolt Ventures and Macmillan Digital Education.
Miríada X will be extended to more than 1,200 universities across Latin America in the Universia network including institutions in Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Mexico.
Miríada X will be extended to more than 1,200 universities across Latin America
The roll out was announced at the Third International Meeting of Universia Rectors in Brazil last month.
Emilio Botín, president of Banco Santander expressed his confidence that the platform will increase access to higher education across the continent.
“We have a historic opportunity for the higher education systems in Latin America,” he said. “Miríada X has all the tools necessary to become the world-wide leader of open online courses in Spanish and Portuguese.”
He went on to add that “the printing press was a great revolution and without a doubt the knowledge that can be shared through the internet is possibly the next great educational innovation that we have the great privilege of living though.”
