Introduction
Massive Open Online Courses, specialisations, and even degrees are all accessible to students through Coursera Inc. (COUR), an online education provider. Coursera doesn't produce educational content; it was founded in 2012 by two Stanford computer science professors, Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller. Instead, the business collaborates with colleges and other institutions to give them access to an online marketplace that students must pay to use.
To make some of its well-liked courses available online, Coursera first started collaborating with a few universities. Coursera currently collaborates with for-profit companies, governmental bodies, and nonprofits. Millions of students can choose from more than 3,000 courses, diplomas, projects, and speciality sectors, thanks to Coursera's partnerships with more than 200 universities worldwide as of May 2021.
What Is Coursera's Business Model?
Although Coursera was founded with the noble intention of "making the best universities in the world readily accessible to anyone who seeks it," it has since expanded into several different revenue streams. Nowadays, the business generates revenue from various products and services, from qualifications to premium services. Using a freemium business strategy, Coursera enables learners to show courses at no cost. They have to pay if they want to get accredited (for instance, certificates or degrees). Here we have guided you about how Coursera makes money. Let's take a closer look at each company's revenue stream below.
Professional Licenses
Professional credentials are a collection of courses designed to help students learn more about a subject to develop their careers.
college degrees
With the help of partnerships with top universities worldwide, Coursera gives its students the chance to obtain fully authorised Bachelor's and Master's degrees. Data science, entrepreneurship, public health, and computer engineering are all sectors where degrees can be obtained.
The primary selling feature of those courses is their low price, which is frequently 50% of what on-campus courses would cost. The average student is 35 years old and has 14 years of specialized work experience, according to Coursera.
The same professors who oversee the on-campus programmes also manage the degrees. Selected students can apply for scholarships to lessen their financial load. The duration of a programme might range from 12 to 36 months, based on the degree type and programme of choice.
Certificates From MasterTrack
The MasterTrack credentials offered by Coursera are a streamlined version of a regular Masters's programme available at colleges. MasterTrack degrees, in contrast to conventional university degrees, are concentrated on actual initiatives that reflect relevance in the corporate world. These programmes are divided into 3 to 6 courses and take approximately 6 months to finish (sometimes longer).
The MasterTrack curriculum counts toward the degree's completion if a student is admitted to a complete Master's programme (including the ones listed above). The price of a MasterTrack track can range from $2000 to $4500; the percentage of that price belongs to the university is not made public.
E-Learning For Businesses
As the name suggests, Coursera For Business allows businesses and workers access to Coursera's catalogue of more than 3,800 classes. It aims to assist companies in raising the competence level of their staff members without spending thousands on conventional certificates.
Pricing varies according to the scale of the business. Coursera advises choosing its Team membership costs $400 a year for each user, for groups and for smaller businesses. The Enterprise package is offered to larger-sized companies. The cost can be obtained upon request. However, it is anticipated to be more expensive than the Teams package.
A personal customer achievement manager, API connections, accessibility to expert-curated course sets, and a capabilities transformation plan are just a few of the extras offered by the Enterprise package. Governments and educational organisations can also use Coursera For Government to get similar solutions (through Coursera For Campus).
Conclusion
How Coursera makes money? Verified certificates are Coursera's primary revenue stream, and with a monthly sales rate of $1M, we project that the company will generate $8–12 million in 2014. A few colleges are already recouping their costs through pooled income, as per Coursera CEO Rick Levin. According to documents published by The Chronicle of Higher Education, Coursera splits its course revenues and gross earnings with universities between 6 and 15 percent and 20 percent, respectively.