Bay Area organizations are helping the refugees to access free online education courses through Coursera via Stanford University, the University of California, and other major universities around the world.

In an effort to increase the access of education for refugees and non profit organizations, that serve refugee populations, Coursera.org launched Coursera for refugees program on Monday, in the special occasion of World refugee day.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Globally, a record 65.3 million people were displaced from their homes by persecution and conflict in 2015. Coursera, a for-profit venture, capital backed provider of online courses is now offering thousands of courses as well as specialized courses such as English for Business and Entrepreneurship via the University of Pennsylvania, Career Success via the University of California, Irvine and Python for Everybody via the University of Michigan.

The program was arranged in partnership with the US department of State, Samaschool, libraries without borders, blue rose compass and the institute of international education, allows refugees and an unlimited number of non profit groups, that serve refugees, to receive comprehensive financial aid for Coursera courses, as well as to provide those organizations the access to services, to help them communicate with students, gauge student engagement and receive Coursera technical support.

The U.S. Department of State plans to use the program to offer English courses for refugees in Lebanon, while San Francisco-based Samaschool has launched pilot technology training programs in both Jordan and Kenya.

By Prakriti Neogi