EdX to Work with French Ministry of Higher Education to Create National Online Learning Portal

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, Oct. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The French Ministry of Higher Education has announced the launch of France's national massive open online course (MOOC) and blended learning portal, which will use edX's open source learning platform. The portal will provide French-speaking students with edX's cutting-edge online education technology, increasing their access to education and helping transform learning on campuses across France.

This online effort is part of a larger national educational initiative funded by the Ministry called France Universite Numerique, which will be open to all French universities and will provide France with a state-of-the art site and technology platform.

Over 100 higher education institutions throughout France will participate in the new national MOOC portal. The first 20 courses will be launched at the end of October and will start in January 2014.

"This marks the first time a national education ministry has embraced online learning," said edX President Anant Agarwal. "France's adoption of the edX platform is a testament to the power of online education and the potential of edX's open source platform."

While powered by edX's open source platform, France's new MOOC portal will be independent, separate and distinct from edX.org.

About edX
EdX is a not-for-profit enterprise composed of 29 leading global institutions, the xConsortium. Founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, edX is focused on transforming online and on-campus learning through groundbreaking methodologies, game-like experiences and cutting-edge research on an open source platform. EdX provides inspirational and transformative knowledge to students of all ages, social status, and income who form worldwide communities of learners. EdX is focused on people, not profit, and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the USA.

Contact:

Dan O'Connell
Associate Director of Communications, edX 
oconnell@edx.org  
+1-617-480-6585

Delphine Chenevier, Press Adviser
French Ministry of Higher Education
delphine.chenevier@recherche.gouv.fr 
01 55 55 84 24