Boston University is another major university exploring the opportunities of online education offers. The new notable development is the university’s cooperation with education platform edX which has so far mainly free or low-cost MOOCs (massive open online courses) and in the last couple of years so-called MicroMasters programmes in business on offer, where students take four courses and earn a certificate.
“We’ve recognized the transformative potential of edX for some time,” the university’s president Robert Brown said. “With the online MBA, we’re seizing the initiative to offer a major degree for which we believe there is global demand. Higher education must evolve in a fast-changing world. We aim to lead in this evolution.”
Tuition for the Master of Business Administration from Boston University Questrom School of Business will be 24,000 US dollars, and applications open on August 16 of this year for classes beginning in autumn 2020. It is the first MBA offered through edX.org and will be available to prospective students around the globe.
Boston University has already been in partnership with edX for seven years. The edX platform, which was created in 2012 by Harvard University and MIT, has more than 21 million registered users, representing every country in the world, who have enrolled in more than 75 million courses. The edX platform offers more than 2,000 MOOCs from 140 schools, usually available free. However, “verified” students pay modest fees to get graded assessments and verified statistics as well as unlimited access to the courses offered through the free Open edX open-source software programme. Also offered are 53 Micro Masters and 94 professional certificate programmes.