Coursera for Illinois, a program specifically for the Urbana-Champaign campus community, provides free access to Illinois’ 60+ noncredit online courses and specializations offered on the Coursera platform. 

Created by our colleges, Coursera for Illinois courses are taught by our faculty and feature material from their on-campus courses and scholarly work. The courses are developed using best practices in online course design to create engaging, effective learning experiences. Course certificates can be shared on LinkedIn profiles or social media, and can be mentioned on a job application or resume.  

“Our partnership with Coursera extends access to high-quality instruction and education to anyone in the world. The Illinois courses are designed to create virtual transformative learning experiences that advance individuals in their knowledge, passions, talents and careers,” said Provost Andreas Cangellaris. “Now, with Coursera for Illinois, we are excited to extend those same opportunities to our own faculty, staff and students. We hope this program empowers them to further fulfill their goals and dreams.”   

With Coursera for Illinois, we are putting an Illinois education in the hands of anyone in the world. The courses available enable you to advance your career, explore an interest, or expand your skill set.  By completing a series of courses, you can earn a course certificate  which can be used to share your accomplishments, highlight a new skill, and gain knowledge to further share with employers and peers. 

About Coursera

Coursera was founded in 2012 by two Stanford Computer Science professors who wanted to share their knowledge and skills with the world. Professors Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng put their courses online for anyone to take – and taught more learners in a few months than they could have in an entire lifetime in the classroom. 

Since then, they’ve built a platform where anyone, anywhere can learn and earn credentials from the world’s top universities and education providers. 

About Illinois Online

At the University of Illinois, we continue to lead and explore innovations in higher education that build on our academic reputation and proven strengths in online teaching and learning. Longevity and experience have made us a pioneer and leader in innovative distance and online education, and we are always integrating new best practices, regardless of the modality. Our world-renowned faculty and award-winning content developers have worked collaboratively to develop more than 90 online degree and certificate options and more than 1700 Online Course Sections for learners across the globe. 

For more information about this Coursera for Illinois program, visit online.illinois.edu/online-courses/moocs.