NetEase Youdao launches online course platform

NetEase Youdao, tech giant NetEase's education subsidiary, announced the launch of a global online open course platform together with Higher Education Press, part of their broader efforts to help millions of students across the pandemic-stricken world.

The platform, dubbed iCourse, will provide students around the world with high-quality MOOC, or massive open online courses. A total of 193 online courses from over 60 universities and colleges will go online as the first batch.

The move marks a step forward as the first group of online courses in higher education are being promoted overseas, said Wu Yan, head of higher education of the Ministry of Education.

"A good university goes beyond campus. In face of the pandemic, NetEase Youdao will leverage our technological prowess and overseas operation experience to promote high-quality education to go global," said Zhou Feng, CEO of NetEase Youdao.

In China alone, China University MOOC has offered over 120,000 courses and has served for nearly 1,200 universities and 60,000 teachers during the epidemic.