Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)launches first ever free online courses that could lead to degree

 

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) has offered free online courses for the last four years with one major downside: They didn't count toward a degree. That's about to change.

In a pilot project announced Wednesday Oct 07,2015 , students will be able to take a semester of free online courses in one of MIT's graduate programs and then, if they pay a "modest fee" of about $1,500 and pass an exam, they will earn a MicroMaster's credential, the school said.

The new credential represents half of the university's one-year master's degree program in supply chain management. As part of the pilot project, students who perform well in the online half can take an exam to apply for the second semester on campus. Those who get in would pay $33,000, about half the cost of the yearlong program.
"Anyone who wants to be here now has a shot to be here," MIT President L. Rafael Reif said. "They have a chance to prove in advance that they can do the work."

The cost of the MicroMaster's includes $150 for each of the five online classes, plus up to $800 to take the exam. The first courses will launch this winter, with plans to route about 40 students each semester from the online courses to the campus program.

Students in the supply chain management program are typically mid-career workers who take a year off work for intense training. But MIT said there's heavy demand from companies to train more students in the field, which examines the flow of goods from manufacturer to consumer.
"We produce 40 students a year, and they say that's a drop in the bucket; we need thousands," said Yossi Sheffi, director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics


 About Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge,Massachussetts

Founded in 1861 in response to the increasing industrialization of the USA, MIT adopted a European Polytechnic University Model and stressed laboratory instruction in applied science and engineering

MIT, with five schools and one college which contain a total of 32 departments, is traditionally known for its research and education in the Physical Sciences and Engineering and more recently in Biology,Economics,Linguistics and Management as well

As of 2015 -

• 84 Nobel Laureates
• 52 National Medal of Science Recipients
• 45Rhodes Scholars 
• 38 MacArthur Fellows
• 34 Astronauts and 
• 2 Field Medalists 

have been affiliated with MIT.