Carlos Slim Foundation and Coursera Announce Strategic Partnership to Advance Education and Job Creation in Latin America

Collaboration focuses on learning as pathway to a better future

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Jan 30, 2014, 08:35 ET

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Carlos Slim Foundation, and Coursera, a leading open online course platform, have teamed up to expand access to education and employment opportunities throughout Latin America.

This strategic partnership reflects a joint commitment to support learning in Latin America, create jobs, and increase opportunities for a better life and livelihood. Announced today in Mexico City by Carlos Slim Helu, founder of Carlos Slim Foundation, and Daphne Koller, co-founder of Coursera, the collaboration will focus on three shared goals:

Improving access to high-quality educational content in Spanish
Creating educational content focused on job skills and employability
Increasing access to places where students can have the opportunity to take Coursera courses

The initiative will entail a major project to translate top Coursera courses into Spanish. Plans call for the translation of 50 courses by the end of 2014. The Carlos Slim Foundation has already worked with Coursera to translate Coursera's user interface into Spanish.

Mr. Slim stated: "Our alliance with Coursera allows us to develop in Mexico, Latin America and in the Hispanic community in the United States human capital at the highest standards."

The joint education initiative will also work with leading universities in Latin America to identify and develop new Spanish-language courses tailored to local employment needs across the region. These courses will focus on high-priority subject areas, including computer science, teacher professional development, healthcare and public health, as well as essential professional skills such as communication and leadership. Some of the effort will focus on the creation and translation of Specializations, a multi-course certificate program recently introduced by Coursera to help students master skills in high-demand fields.

"We deeply respect both the approach and the impact of Fundacion Carlos Slim, and are excited about our partnership to remove barriers to high-quality education for Spanish-speaking students," said Daphne Koller, Coursera's co-founder and co-CEO. "This partnership will help students develop skills in critical, fast-growing employment sectors in Latin America to make an impact on their lives and their communities."

The Foundation and Coursera will also work together to open up new ways for people in Latin America to discover and access relevant content. One effort involves the creation of a network of Learning Hubs, which provide participants with a rich learning experience that combines online and face-to-face instruction. The two organizations will create Learning Hubs by leveraging Carlos Slim Foundation's existing Casa Telmex network of 13 education spaces in highly populated low-income areas, its Telmex Hub, a technological innovation and education space in Mexico City, and a new Telmex Digital Library in the state of Veracruz. In the future, courses in key content areas may also be offered at Telmex Digital Libraries, a novel service that features more than 3,000 locations where students of all ages can enjoy free use of computers with Internet access.

About Carlos Slim Foundation
Created in 1986, through social programs of strong impact for the most vulnerable populations, the Carlos Slim Foundation has directly benefited more than 36 million people. With a marked sense of social responsibility, efficiency, and proven results, the Foundation offers programs in various fields, such as education, health, nutrition, social justice, culture, human development, natural disaster support, protection and conservation of the environment, and economic development that contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of populations of all ages, fostering the development of human capital and generating opportunities for people, their communities, and as a result, their countries.
www.carlosslim.com/responsabilidad.html#carso

About Coursera
Coursera's mission is to educate millions of people worldwide by offering free online access to classes from top universities and institutions. Coursera's comprehensive education platform combines mastery-based learning principles with video lectures, interactive content and a global community of peers, offering students a unique online learning experience. Coursera is financially backed by GSV Capital, International Finance Corporation, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Laureate Education Inc., Learn Capital, New Enterprise Associates and Yuri Milner, as well as a number of universities, including California Institute of Technology and University of Pennsylvania. For more information, visit Coursera.org.

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SOURCE Carlos Slim Foundation