NUS will be the first university here to hop onto the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) bandwagon — a move the two other local universities told TODAY that they may also consider making in the future. NUS said yesterday it will offer two such courses, for a start, beginning from January next year, in partnership with Coursera, a fast-growing MOOC provider. NUS Provost and Deputy President (Academic Affairs) Tan Eng Chye said that “the availability of academic content on an open online platform will accelerate knowledge sharing in higher education globally”. The move will mean “more students can now have access to, and benefit from, NUS’ educational offerings”, he added. Asked if more courses will be offered as MOOCs in the near future, an NUS spokesperson said it is “keen” to explore such options and plans to “offer about two or three courses on Coursera every year”. Meanwhile, SMU and NTU said that they were also exploring the possibility of offering their courses via MOOC providers.