Aimed at addressing the lack of personal finance skills among the people in India, the program that also includes a capstone project is open to anyone with or without a finance background, an ISB release said.

This is the second programme being offered by ISB on Coursera’s MOOCs platform after the course on happiness in November 2014.

Sound financial planning and investment management are essential for any individual. However, several studies have shown that individuals do commit mistakes while choosing their personal investment portfolios.

In 2015, the S&P’s Ratings Services Global Financial Literacy Survey found that close to 76% of Indian adults do not adequately understand key financial concepts – lower than the worldwide average of financial literacy.

Speaking at the launch of the program, ISB faculty member Dr. Vaidya Nathan said, “In India, direct equity investments account for only 2% of household savings, which are dominated by other asset classes such as fixed deposits, gold and real estate.

In 2015, the S&P’s Ratings Services Global Financial Literacy Survey found that close to 76% of Indian adults do not adequately understand key financial concepts – lower than the worldwide average of financial literacy.

“Surprisingly, the number has not changed significantly over the last two decades despite the economy going through structural transformation. Therefore, we developed this course with Coursera to address the lack of financial knowledge and educate the average person about financial markets and financial instruments,” he added.

Rick Levin, CEO, Coursera, brought in an international angle, he said ISB’s new specialisation would appeal to a mass audience not only in India but also to Coursera’s 19 million plus learners around the world – from aspiring to working professionals in finance to anyone who would like to learn the basics of financial planning for personal or professional use.

ISB faculty members Vaidya Nathan, Vikram Kuriyan and Ramabhadran Thirumalai would be involved in teaching the four course Specialization: Introduction to Financial Markets; Portfolio and Risk Management; Behavioral Investing and Investment Strategy, Philosophy, Client Management and Current Trends.

In order to earn a specialisation Certificate, learners are required to complete a final Capstone Project that involves managing assets and securities for a person or a company using portfolio management and behavioral aspects.

The partnership with Coursera puts ISB among the ranks of 140 other top universities and schools such as Stanford University, Yale University, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. These institutions have produced more than 1900 online courses and specialisations on Coursera.

The online educational platform offers courses and learning experiences from the world’s top universities and education institutions including Peking University and the University of London. It has more than 19 million registered learners worldwide. Anyone, anywhere can access over 1,900 courses and Specializations in dozens of topics including business, technology, social sciences, health, and art.

The ISB, with two campuses in is a global Business school offering management education across its two campuses in Hyderabad and Mohali has grown at a rapid pace over the 15 years since its inception. It is the first institution in South Asia to receive the prestigious AACSB accreditation.

This data released by MOOC aggregator Class Central says at present, more than 4,200 MOOC courses are on offer. Interestingly, 756 courses are offered in Business & Management sector including Leadership, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Strategic Management and Industry specific Business Analytics and Intelligence. Science follows next with 549 courses, followed by Social Sciences (515) and Computer Science (497).

Education technology company Coursera also notes the popularity of business studies saying that among its 10 most popular courses are Financial Management, Negotiation, and Business Management.

The rapid growth in MOOC is attributed partly to rapid advances in technology. In the initial years, issues like lack of bandwidth stymied much of the efforts in offering video-based courses. A recession in the first decade of the century also saw the demise of pioneers in the sector like DigitalThink, NinthHouse and others.

Now, the bandwidth issue has been resolved and advances in technology make it possible to share the content across a wide range of platforms including mobile phones.

So all that anyone interested has to do is to search for the right course, register and pursue it from home, while travelling or anywhere else. You complete the assignments within the allotted time frame and submit them to get the credits.

Online learning platforms set up by Business Schools like Harvard offer tests and accreditation for a fee like Credentials of Readiness (CORe), Nanodegrees offered by Udacity, founded by Stanford graduates  Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig and Xseries by EdX. While Udacity is a for-profit venture, EdX is a non-profit initiative undertaken jointly by MIT, Harvard and Berkeley.

What goes into the package? CORe, for example, aimed at novices at business, offers three distinct courses–Business Analytics, Economics for Managers, and Financial Accounting—bundled together in an 8 to 10 week program taught by Harvard Business School faculty. The Credential cost is $1800 and credit cost $3600.

Increasingly, MOOCs providers are offering most of their content for free or during initial trial. The charges come in for higher-end content, accreditation or more comprehensive premium offering. Thus a student who opts for a basic package could always upgrade it for a fee at a later stage.

Who exactly goes in for such courses? Practically anyone interested in developing their skills in a fast changing job market where rapid advancement of technology and other factors are creating new opportunities and making some of the work redundant.

Thus, from very young people at the start of their career to middle level executives to veterans in the field are all into MOOC courses. In fact, Coursera CEO Rick Levin says 75% of those enrolled with the platform are above University graduates age.

Then, with top Universities and others jumping into the fray, the quality of the content itself is improving. While most of MOOCS have feedback to practices and assignments generated by computer, critical thinking and reflection may not be factored in.

For assessment, peer-2-peer tutoring and even peer & self-grading are used. With more than 10,000 students assessing and giving grades to other students, worldwide communities of students are formed. Such large numbers have the advantage that even a question posted in the middle of the night is likely to be answered correctly in a short time. (Image Courtsey : commons.wikimedia.org)

The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign’s College of Business has rolled out a new MBA program, dubbed the iMBA, through online education platform Coursera.

This is the first time a business school has put an entire MBA curriculum online for free. Students only pay if they want a certificate for completing a course or a sequence of courses for college credit ($1,000 per course or $3,000 for the specialization) or the actual MBA degree (which will end up costing roughly $20,000). 

As many as 180 business schools already offer online MBA degrees, including seven whose residential MBA programs rank among the Top 50 and at least another 14 from schools that rank in the second half of the Top 100 programs.

At roughly $20,000, it is the most affordable online MBA from a top business school in the U.S. and less than half the price of the school’s residential MBA program for in-state students.

But what will set the iMBA at Illinois apart from those offerings is cost. At roughly $20,000, it is the most affordable online MBA from any top business school in the U.S. and less than half the price of the school’s residential MBA program for in-state students. Illinois administrators say the low price tag is “one-third the cost of online MBAs from institutions of similar stature to the University of Illinois.”

Online MBA programs at established business schools, such as those offered by the Tepper School of Business, Kenan-Flagler Business School, and Olin Graduate School of Business, charge students anywhere from $78,200 to $108,080 for a full MBA. And other schools that have jumped into online business education, such as Harvard Business School, have shared only a sliver of the courses the University of Illinois will release on Coursera. 

Price aside, Coursera says the iMBA program is unique because it will let students “stack” credentials, meaning they can pile on courses in certain skills that may help them advance in their careers or even find new jobs. 

“It’s a completely innovative way of aggregating credentials, which really allows people to consume what they want, when they want it,” says Daphne Koller, president of Coursera. “If you want to learn digital marketing, you can sign up for that specialization; if you want to learn about business negotiation, you can do that; and if you want the full MBA, you’re on the path for that as well.”

The iMBA programme is now live on Coursera and applications are open till September 2015.

Admission to the iMBA degree program requires a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent and “strong candidates” are expected to have three or more years of professional experience in business operations or management. Completing one or more of the Coursera Specializations prior to applying to the full degree program is an added advantage and reccomended. Although no GMAT or GRE score is required to apply, both are recommended. Additional application requirements include a personal statement, letters of recommendation, and proof of English language proficiency

The market for online business school education is getting crowded and reports suggest the online learning wave could wipe out half of U.S business schools by 2020. (Image courtesy Sierraclub)