XuetangX: 3 Years Old and 5 Million Users

BEIJING, Oct. 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 10th, Tsinghua University held a press conference to announce the release of their Chinese Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Industry Research Paper, as well as to mark the 3-year anniversary of the launch of XuetangX.

Dr. Nie Fenghua, Chairman of the Board of XuetangX, announced that the company is celebrating not only an anniversary, but also a new record of five million registered users and nearly seven million enrollments since its foundation in 2013. In the last two months, the company had an increase of a million new students, marking a record in the China MOOC Industry.

Dr. Nie, who also serves as the Associate Director of the China Online Education Research Center and the Deputy Secretary-General of Tsinghua University, pointed out in his speech the opportunities offered by the Internet to impart knowledge and how the development of the Internet has produced a boom in online courses offered by prestigious universities. He also highlighted the importance of MOOC courses for training people and for making innovations.

"What is the meaning of five million registered users?" Mr. Nie asked the audience during his intervention. He responded with an analogy: "Tsinghua University gets 3,400 undergraduate students every year. This means that XuetangX's five million users are the equivalent of three hundred fifty times Tsinghua's annual enrollment!"

He also gave his own opinions regarding learners' concerns about the social recognition of XuetangX credits, certificates and degrees. He believes that everything has its own developmental process and with the continuous improvement of MOOC courses, people will start to gradually accept this new educational method. "Even as early as 2012, one high school student in Inner Mongolia who chose a circuits and electronics class was recruited by MIT. This case is one good example of MOOCs' potential. With the advent of a learning society, more and more MOOC courses and its students will receive better social recognition."

Mr. Nie also compared traditional private home school education with the MOOC courses. He pointed out that both of them have their merits and faults. "The first one has low efficiency, reaches fewer students but the degree of satisfaction is higher, while the massive online open courses have lower costs, cover material more efficiently but have also attracted more complaints. So what should we do?" Dr. Nie advocates for "education without discrimination. Teaching students depends on their character and the sharing of good quality educational resources with every person."

The emergence of MOOC courses are bringing tangible changes to education and teaching and providing an opportunity to those who are hungry for knowledge and learning. Even those who don't have much desire to study may change their attitude about education.

Dr. Nie imagines the "future of education future in a large-oriented and personalized style, not a pipeline model. Learners may study according to their interests and their needs. XuetangX will focus on preparing one lifelong study platform for better employment direction, combining an online - offline integration in order to become a global online school platform."

In his presentation, he also mentioned XuetangX 3-3, a strategic plan covering 3 three-year periods. From 2014 through 2016 the company will develop a brand new structure. From 2017 through 2019 XuetangX will focus on improving and invigorating their products and standardizing the company's model. From 2020 through 2022 the company's strategy will be to focus on its global expansion.

After Dr. Nie's speech, a roundtable dialogue took place where several Chinese professors shared their teaching experiences and opinions about MOOCs. All of them showed positive attitudes towards MOOCs, and welcomed the opportunity to bring their classes to Chinese learners.

During the last part of the meeting, the China Ministry of Education Online Research Center, in cooperation with the HCR Company, launched the 2016 Chinese MOOC Industry Research White Paper. The MOOC White Paper is an important report that covers the present situation of MOOCs, future trends, the behavior of Chinese online learners and other very important topics. This White Paper is a milestone in Chinese MOOC history and will guide the Chinese MOOC industry in a positive direction.

The event also included the participation of renowned institutions and XuetangX partners such as representatives of Telefonica, the Embassy of Australia and greetings from Mr. Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX.

Notes to Editors

About XuetangX

XuetangX is a MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) Chinese Education company, founded in 2013 by the Tsinghua University under the supervision of the China Ministry of Education Research Center for Online Education. We are the sole partner in the Chinese market of Edx. We have 5 million Chinese students registered on our website where we offer them 1,000 online courses supported by first class Chinese and foreign Universities.

SOURCE XuetangX