Most interesting to me was this: "88% of the applicants are US-based as compared to 10% for the on-campus degree." My guess is that the $7K price that seems revolutionary in the US is just too expensive in a worldwide context. At lot of international students do come to the US, but that's for traditional on-campus education. If you're not going all-in in that manner, might as well attend a local institution for a fraction of the cost. This kinda puts paid to some of the MOOC rhetoric of opening education to the masses.
On the other hand, I'm really happy to see Udacity developing a viable business model. Coursera has received a lot more publicity, with their wider range of courses, but haven't seem to put as much emphasis on developed a sustainable income stream. I like what both of these companies do and would like to see them stick around.
>My guess is that the $7K price that seems revolutionary in the US is just too expensive in a worldwide context.
Yep! That would be my guess too. As an American who immigrated to Europe for an affordable Master's degree, I can understand both sides of this. $7K would have sounded completely reasonable to me 5 years ago, but now after I have paid only 500 Euros a semester, that is my new threshold for what I'd probably be willing to pay... Not that there is any strict logic behind what an education is or is not "worth," but compared to other opportunities there is no reason for me to pay more.
That would be correct. In Portugal, university fees are around €1000 per annum. A private university costs around €5000. So by our standards, this is expensive.
A second disadvantage is that American degrees are not automatically recognized here - you have to ask for an equivalence; and very likely an online degree would not be recognized, because it does not follow a traditional format in terms of course attendance and examinations.
The only advantage of this degree is the fact that you can take it online, and that is not very compelling, as you can find most of this material for free.
and very likely an online degree would not be recognized
The actual degree that will be granted for this particular program is simply "MS in Computer Science" from Georgia Tech. So it is not going to differentiated from the on-campus degree.
That's good to know, but it might still not be accepted. While an Ivy-league education is sure to earn recognition, many second- or third-tier American institutions might fall short.
I have learned in this thread that it isn't, but the parent has a good point: in the European country that I live in the name is not recognized at all. Potential employers will not know the value of the education and might assume it is just a degree farm.
Yeah, but what happens when a job interviewer asks you about his favorite pizza place at Georgia Tech and you have to admit you have never been there :-(
I think many MOOC studies show that while "the poor girl in Afghanistan" is theoretically possible and a nice heart-warming story, the reality is that it's mostly used by already fairly well educated Caucasian males from well developed countries.
[classes are also mostly not completed etc.]
I'm really wondering why that is the case and feel like they should focus a lot on fixing this because bringing great education to people that otherwise can't get it would be the real breakthrough (insert solar powered mini-TV story by Christensen for the old compete with nonconsumption here)
Either way I hope this prototype succeeds and which them luck.
Probably lack of awareness in both directions - apart from Oxford and Cambridge, how many European universities are well known in the US?
And for Europeans - apart from Harvard, Yale (and MIT and Stanford for people in the tech world) how many people know about other US universities? This also probably applies within Europe - I have no idea what the top rated universities are for CS or engineering are in Germany or France... and I'm in the UK (showing my own ignorance - I really should know).
I was at a conference in New Jersey and met two guys. One said, "I'm from Cornell", and stood back waiting for applause. The next said, "I'm from Rice", and also stood back waiting for applause.
Somewhat perturbed by the expectant looks, having never heard of these institutions, and meaning to be polite and sound interested, I asked, "Are they campus universities or city universities?".
Following twenty minutes of discussing relevant technical developments in our fields, we got on like a house on fire, but the assumption of name-recognition more than a 100km from home (that about 5 x umpteen miles) stood unfirmly.
Cornell and Rice would be known in the U.S. in general, but most likely, not known outside of the U.S. -- unless you are in a field where those particular institutions are leaders.
On the other hand, I'm really happy to see Udacity developing a viable business model. Coursera has received a lot more publicity, with their wider range of courses, but haven't seem to put as much emphasis on developed a sustainable income stream. I like what both of these companies do and would like to see them stick around.