Education for free and for all!

I have just signed up for www.coursera.org, a website with "the world's best courses, online, for free".

It offers plenty of interesting courses, including in economics (such as Principles of Economics for Scientists from Caltech, which would be a great complement to students of macroeconomics at Kozminski!) and in history (such as The Modern World: Global History since 1760, even though--in line with the biased Western tradition--it tends to almost totally ignore New Europe, as if it was a different continent!). No grades and credits for courses, but completion certificates are already available for some (which, I predict, will soon start to appear on people's CVs...)

This is an utopian dream close to coming true: a top-notch quality of education for everyone in the world with an internet connection and an ability to read and write in English.

Where is it going? In no time, these online courses will transform into full blown online universities, which will rival the established modes of off-line learning. Completion certificates from the online courses will compete with the standard course grades. Traditional universities should beware - they'd better seize on this new mode of learning or gradually lose the fight if not eventually perish (there will also be a need for a place to get young people together to benefit from the joys of the youth and find spouses...).