Coursera, an online learning platform, will set up an operational centre in India to cater to the increasing demand for online learning resources. With 12.5 million registered users, India is the second-largest in terms of the user base for Coursera after the US at 16.6 million. Last year, over 5.7 million Indians joined Coursera. India grew 49 per cent in the previous 12 months, the highest growth across the world.
“We are building out an operation centre that serves the whole APAC (Asia-Pacific) region, and probably many time zones that are near and not even in the APAC region,” said Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of the company, at a virtual press conference on 8 September 2021.
Coursera has partnered with four additional higher education institutions in India, including IIT Guwahati, IIT Bombay, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), and Ashoka University. As a result, it now has six university partners, bringing the total number of university partners in the country to ten. Larsen and Toubro, Usha, ITC Infotech, Wipro GE Healthcare, StarTek, Vardhman Group, and Welspun India are among the new enterprise customers.
The availability of popular courses on programming, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science makes the platform one of the most preferred among aspirants and professionals as well.
As per the recent Coursera’s 2021 Global Skills Report, India’s digital skill proficiency stood at 38 per cent. Globally, India ranks 55th in skills and 66th in technology and data science. Raghav Gupta, Managing Director – India and APAC at Coursera, said, “The pace of skills transformation is slower than the pace of digital transformation in India, as is the case in several countries across the world. Learners must invest in both soft and technical skills to prepare for jobs of the future.”
