The not-for-profit company, founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, now has universities on board. The latest recruits to the ¡°xConsortium¡± include its first Asian-based institutions, along with universities from the US, Australia, Germany and Belgium.

In addition, Stockholm¡¯s Karolinska Institutet has become the first university in Sweden to offer Moocs. ¡°This means that we have put ourselves way ahead of the field as we meet the future¡¯s demand for quality academic courses,¡± said dean of higher education Jan-Olov H??g. ¡°It makes us an important actor on the global educational arena¡­and puts it in good company.¡±

Nabil Zary, a docent at Karolinska who is co-ordinating its partnership with edX, added: ¡°Being able to offer courses online not only lifts our overseas profile, but also importantly motivates the development of new courses.

¡°We¡¯ve been wanting to share our knowledge and make our courses more widely available for a long time, and now at last we¡¯ve found the means to do it. This is just the beginning.¡±

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Anant Agarwal, president of edX, said the expansion meant edX was ¡°moving forward with our mission to reimagine education¡±.

¡°These schools, with their unique faculties and student bodies, will help us conduct collaborative research on best practices which improve education online and on campus,¡± he added.

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The company said it was not only focusing on the production of free online courses, but was also aiming to build an ¡°open-source educational platform and a network of the world¡¯s top universities to improve education both online and on campus¡±. Currently, more than 900,000 students have registered with edX.

chris.parr@tsleducation.com