Local and regional universities look to offer MOOCs as trend goes global

By Kate Whitehead. As the trend for massive open online courses gathers pace, universities from Britain and around the region are looking at ways to stamp their educational brand on the world, writes Kate Whitehead.
Until a couple of years ago, few people had heard of them. Now massive open online courses - better known as MOOCs - seem to be everywhere, offering free access to high-quality content from the world's most prestigious universities.
It's a phenomenon that is changing our understanding of how knowledge can be distributed, and it could shake up the role of universities. More...