ML subject most subscribed by Indians on Coursera in 2018: Report

Owing to the growing demand for emerging technology experts, Machine Learning (ML) was the most subscribed subject by Indians on Coursera in 2018, the US-based online education company said on Wednesday.

Technology courses constituted 80 per cent of the list of the 10 most popular courses. Besides ML, Artificial Intelligence and Python programming were the other leading courses on the platform.

The list reflects that learners chose the Coursera platform to meet career advancement, personal development or knowledge building, the company said.

"Technology is playing a crucial role and transforming the way we work and hence it isn't surprising to see tech courses dominating the list. With an aim to transform lives, we strive to bring about courses to teach the most in-demand skills," said Raghav Gupta, Director - India and Asia-Pacific, in a statement.

Further, five states in India, namely Maharashtra, Karnataka, National Capital Region, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh accounted for 59 per cent of all Coursera learners in the country, the company noted.

This indicates that more learners across the country are picking up online learning, driven by better technological infrastructure, affordability and the growing recognition and acceptance of online certificates and degrees by employers.

"Indians place enormous value in the power of education and often perceive it as a means of social and economic mobility. The country is sitting on an untapped goldmine -- a demographic dividend in an otherwise ageing world," Gupta said.

"Though learners from the metros constitute the major learner pie, we see an increasing adoption from learners in tier 2 and 3 cities," he added.

Coursera has 38 million registered learners from all over the world taking courses from 160 university and over 20 industry partners.

India stands as the second largest and fastest growing market for Coursera, with over 3.7 million learners, where an additional 75,000 learners are added every month.

--IANS

rt/mag/sed