Coursera moves into healthcare education sector with 100 new courses

NEW DELHI: In order to meet the issue of acute shortage of skilled workers in the health sector, the US-based online education company Coursera has partnered with 15 top-ranked universities to launch 100 new health courses.

With around 100 courses in 30 areas, along with two master's degrees in public health, the company decided to foray into the healthcare education sector to help train people to fill current and future talent shortages in health informatics, healthcare management, public health and related roles.

To meet the growing demand of healthcare workers, Coursera has partnered with top-ranked universities including Columbia University, Emory University, Imperial College London, Johns Hopkins University.

These courses will provide learners with the skills they need to enter high demand jobs, particularly related to health informatics, healthcare management, and public health, the company said in a statement on Thursday. The two health-focused master's degrees from Michigan and Imperial are accepting applications in January, the statement said.

"I am deeply passionate about driving innovation in healthcare," said Daphne Koller, Co-Founder of Coursera stated while speaking to IANS.

"The sector, which is under enormous strain to support the needs of a growing and ageing population, presents a huge opportunity for meaningful technological transformation that stands to not only improve health outcomes for people around the world but also reduce the increasingly unaffordable costs of healthcare, both to individuals and to society," Koller added.

The new specialisations will roll out through 2019 and will be available for a subscription range of $39 to $79 per month.