The University of Tokyo will begin offering free online courses as soon as by September, with a plan to issue certificates to people around the world recognised as having reached a sufficient level of achievement.

The university will be the first in Japan to offer so-called Massive Open Online Courses, with similar programs provided by leading overseas universities, including Stanford University and Harvard University, proving increasingly popular.

The decision to introduce online courses is “part of our internationalisation strategy,” said Masako Egawa, executive vice president of the University of Tokyo on Friday.

The online courses will be provided in English and will commence with two lectures – one by Hitoshi Murayama, a specially appointed professor who is director of the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, titled “From the Big Bang to Dark Energy,” and the other by Kiichi Fujiwara, a professor of international politics, titled “Conditions of War and Peace.”

The online courses will use the US Coursera system already being employed by over 60 universities,” the Japanese university said.

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