Coursera today announced that California Institute of Technology, Duke University, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Georgia Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Rice University, UC San Francisco, University of Edinburgh, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Toronto, University of Virginia and University of Washington have signed agreements with Coursera to put their web-based courses online for free and create new opportunities for hands-on learning in the classroom. Additionally, Caltech and the University of Pennsylvania have extended a combined $3.7 million investment to Coursera, with further investment from New Enterprise Associates and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Coursera was founded in the fall of 2011 by Stanford Computer Science Professors Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng, and in April 2012 announced that Princeton, University of Michigan, Stanford and Penn were entering into agreement with Coursera to bring course content online for free. To date, Coursera has seen over 680,000 students from 190 countries and more than 1.6 million course enrollments across its 43 courses.

The twelve universities joining the platform, including three international institutions, will offer over 100 new courses on topics in the arts, computer sciences, health, mathematics, history, literature and other disciplines. All courses will be free for any individual with a computer and Internet connection to enroll.

"We believe that putting courses online for free via Coursera offers tremendous value for students, professors and universities alike," said Coursera co-founder Andrew Ng. "Students have greater access than ever before to the world's foremost subject matter experts. Professors can reach more students in one course than they could have hoped to in a lifetime. Universities can teach millions worldwide, and make time on-campus for interactive in-class learning. This is truly the future of higher education."

"Coursera is dedicated to creating better educational opportunities inside and outside the classroom, and we could not do it without the blessing and commitment of universities," said Coursera co-founder Daphne Koller. "We're fortunate to have the support of these highly-respected academic institutions as we move toward our shared goal of providing a high-quality education to everyone around the world."

In addition to new universities joining Coursera's platform, Coursera welcomes a combined $3.7 million in investment from Caltech and Penn, with additional investment from current investors New Enterprise Associates and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, bringing the total in Coursera Series A funding to over $22 million.

Over the next few months, new online courses across a range of disciplines will continue to be added to the online platform, from current university partners as well as other top-tier educational institutions.

Visit Coursera.org today to learn more and sign up for courses.

About Coursera
Coursera is on a mission to change the world by educating millions of people by offering classes from top universities and professors online for free. Coursera's comprehensive education platform combines mastery-based learning principles with video lectures, interactive content and a global community of peers, offering students from around the world a unique online learning experience. Coursera has partnered with top-tier universities to provide courses across a broad range of disciplines, including medicine, literature, history and computer science, among others. Coursera is backed by leading venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and New Enterprise Associates. For more information, visit Coursera.org.