Yale University to make courses available online, free of charge

Internet Business News, Sept 21, 2006

INTERNET BUSINESS NEWS-(C)1995-2006 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

Digital videos of some of the courses offered by Yale University, a private school in the US, are to be made available, free of charge, online, in an attempt to make the establishment more accessible.

The university is introducing an 18 month pilot project in the 2007 academic year, offering videos, transcripts and syllabi in a number of languages for seven courses. The courses, which will not count towards a Yale degree, will include 'Introduction to Political Philosophy', 'Fundamentals of Physics' and 'Introduction to the Old Testament'.

Although course material is offered freely online by other education institutions - including Princeton University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Yale is reportedly the first to introduce free video lectures.

The university said the project, which is being funded by a USD755,000 grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, presents an opportunity to share an important part of the Yale experience with others. Students at the university are expected to spend almost USD46,000 for this year's tuition, room and board.

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