Trinity College Dublin to offer free Open Online courses worldwide

18 Jun 2013

Venerable university Trinity College Dublin is to offer free Open Online courses worldwide as part of a new global partnership with Futurelearn, which was founded by the Open University.

Trinity College Dublin is the only Irish university to join the FutureLearn programme, which now boasts 26 partnerships.

The Dublin city centre university joins Australia’s Monash University and the University of Edinburgh to join FutureLearn.com today.

“Today, FutureLearn is adding to its amazing roll call of partners, announcing partnerships with the University of Edinburgh and its first two international collaborators: Australia’s largest university, Monash, and the Republic of Ireland’s highest-ranked university, Trinity College Dublin,” said Simon Nelson, CEO of FutureLearn.

“These three new partners will join top UK institutions to offer high-quality courses through FutureLearn. Students worldwide will have access to courses developed by a team that combines the OU’s 40 years’ expertise in distance learning with the skills of those that have created some of the UK’s most enjoyable online consumer experiences.”

FutureLearn.com is the first UK-led multi-institutional provider of free, open, online higher education courses that can be accessed across multiple devices.

As well as the universities, the British Council, British Library and British Museum have also partnered with FutureLearn to share content and expertise and collaborate in the development of courses.

“Both innovative and transformational in its potential, FutureLearn will increase the global reach of our courses renowned for their excellence and research-led teaching,” said Trinity College Dublin provost Dr Patrick Prendergast.

“It will widen participation and provide educational opportunities to prospective students and new audiences. As the first Irish university to join the collaboration we feel especially privileged and look forward to further delivering excellence in education across the globe.”

Trinity College Dublin image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com