Dr. Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president of Academic Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has been named to Coursera’s University Advisory Board. Bras is one of nine senior academic officials named to the panel, the company’s first advisory board. Each member represents a university partnered with Coursera to offer free massive open online courses (MOOCs).

As a board member, Bras will advise Coursera on strategic academic and business decisions that relate to Coursera’s mission of offering top-quality academic content to students everywhere. The group will consult with Coursera leadership and advise the company on a variety of matters, including the selection of additional partner institutions, selection and provision of new content, legal and regulatory issues and other major questions of company policy that affect the partner institutions.

"Coursera is dedicated to creating better educational opportunities inside and outside the classroom, and we could not do it without the blessing and commitment of our university partners," said Coursera co-founder Daphne Koller.

Bras said Georgia Tech is committed to continuing its leadership in higher education.

 "We relentlessly seek to improve our residential education and to share with others in the U.S. and the rest of the world some of the educational content and know-how that makes us unique and excellent," said Bras. "This commitment is aligned with Coursera's mission, and we are happy to be their partner. I personally look forward to helping Coursera and all our partner institutions charter the way to a successful revolution in the use of technology in higher education," he said.

 "We're fortunate to have the insight of these highly-respected academics in guiding Coursera’s development toward our shared goal of providing a high-quality education to everyone around the world," added co-founder, Andrew Ng.

Georgia Tech signed an agreement with Coursera last July to put its web-based courses online and create new opportunities for hands-on learning in the classroom. The first course, Computational Investing Part I, began in October with nearly 50,000 enrolled students. Enrollment is currently open for seven other Georgia Tech classes at https://www.coursera.org/gatech.

About Coursera: Coursera is on a mission to change the world by educating millions of people by offering classes from top universities and professors online for free. Coursera's comprehensive education platform combines mastery-based learning principles with video lectures, interactive content and a global community of peers, offering students from around the world a unique online learning experience. Coursera has partnered with top-tier universities to provide courses across a broad range of disciplines, including medicine, literature, history and computer science, among others. Coursera is backed by leading venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and New Enterprise Associates. For more information, visit Coursera.org.