Top 10 Free Online Courses From Top Universities

Though online courses have been on the Internet for past many years, the quality and quantity of courses have undergone a change from time to time. Students now have access to free courses which brings them at par with others who obtained the same certification from a regular school/university. In fact, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) have significantly changed the face of education. 

As mentioned in The New York Times article, author Tamar Lewin states, “In the past few months hundreds of thousands of motivated students around the world who lack access to elite universities have been embracing them as a path toward sophisticated skills and high-paying jobs, without paying tuition or collecting a college degree.



1. Udemy Free Courses– Udemy is an example of an elite site that allows anyone to construct or take online courses. If you go to Udemy’s site, it exclaims, “Our goal is to disrupt and democratize education by enabling anyone to learn from the world’s experts.” As reported by The New York Times, Udemy has, “recently announced a new Faculty Project, in which award-winning professors from universities like Dartmouth, the University of Virginia and Northwestern offer free online courses. Its co-founder, Gagen Biyani, said the site has more than 100,000 students enrolled in its courses, including several, outside the Faculty Project, that charge fees.”

2. ITunesU Free Courses–A free app site from Apple that gives students access to entire course material at a single place. They can play video or audio lectures in the app and also read books and view presentations.

3. Stanford Free Courses - Here, you can get courses ranging from Quantum Mechanics to The Future of the Internet, and all for free! Stanford’s – Introduction to Artificial Intelligence was extremely popular. As per Pontydysgu.org has “160000 students from 190 countries signed up to Stanford’s Introduction to AI” course, with 23000 reportedly completing.” Do check out Engineering Everywhere link of Standford.

4. UC Berkeley Free Courses– Here, you can get courses on General Biology to Human Emotion. Check out: Berkeley Webcasts and Berkeley RSS Feeds.

5. MIT Free Courses– Explore MIT’s RSS MOOC feed. Also check out: MIT’s Open Courseware.

6. Duke Free Courses– Duke presents a range of courses on ITunesU. Check out! 

7. Harvard Free Courses– Another elite university site offering you education from Computer Science to Shakespeare that too free. Students can even take a class for professional development, enhancement, and degree credit. The university runs courses in the fall, spring, or intensive January session. You need not fill any application form. 

8. UCLA Free Courses– Check out the link for viewing the free courses including their writing program with more than 220 online writing courses every year.

9. Yale Free Courses– Another significant and elite web link that offers free and open access to a selection of introductory courses taught by eminent teachers and scholars at Yale University. 

10. Carnegie Mellon Free Courses– Carnegie Mellon says “No instructors, no credits, no charge.” Visit the link to check out free courses.