In a recent analysis of online learning, Coursera, the world’s largest open online education provider, revealed that an increasing interest in flexible, career-relevant online courses has resulted in a considerable spike in new registrations in India of 70 percent over the past 12 months. Out of Coursera’s 18 million registered learners, 1.3 million are from India, establishing the country as the third largest market for online learning after the US and China.
Coursera is an education platform that partners with top universities and organizations worldwide, to offer courses online for anyone to take. The research highlighted the trend of e-learning in India becoming more widely adopted in all cities and towns. Bengaluru emerged as the top city in India for online learning with the highest number of registered learners, followed by Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.
“The increase in India registrations over the past year alone illustrates the transformation taking place across the Indian education sector and workplace. Online courses are rapidly growing in reputation, and are being acknowledged as important and legitimate qualifications to help boost career progression. They provide accessible education across geographic boundaries and time zones, without compromising on teaching quality and credential recognition,” said Rick Levin, CEO of Coursera.
Driven by the vast interest coming from Bengaluru, India’s technology hub, nearly half of enrollments in India are in technology courses such as computer science (25%) and data science (18%). In fact, computer science and data science courses are more popular in India than in any of the other ten highest enrollment countries on Coursera.
“The most active online learners in India are entrepreneurial, young professionals in their 20s and 30s who are laser focused on gaining the technical skills that are sought after by India’s top employers,” added Levin.
