Twenty years ago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) set itself the ambitious goal of making the bulk of their courses available online to learners worldwide. On April 4th, 2001, MIT announced they’d published core educational materials for free through their MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) platform.

Soon, other universities joined in by sharing Open Education Resources (OER) on their university websites.

A decade later, Harvard and MIT launched the course platform edX. Online course platforms typically offer more interactive learning experiences than OCW platforms, often allowing students to sign up, complete assignments, interact with peers, review courses, and earn badges or certificates of completion.

We've compiled the following list of OCW platforms launched by institutions worldwide. They offer some of the best teaching and learning materials available for free online.

2500+ MIT Free Online Courses

Launched in 2001, MIT OpenCourseWare offers more than 2,500 courses and resources, provided on their website, which was refreshed in 2022, and on their YouTube channel, which has 400M views. These courses cover a wide variety of subjects both at the undergraduate and graduate level. The platform’s most popular courses include:

• Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python
• Introduction to Computational Thinking
• Mathematics for Computer Science
• A Vision of Linear Algebra
• Principles of Microeconomics
• Introduction to Algorithms
• Blockchain and Money
• Multivariable Calculus
• Classical Mechanics
• Quantum Physics

150+ Stanford Free Online Courses

Stanford Engineering Everywhere (SEE) provides free access to full course materials of 9 popular courses in Engineering. With its Creative Commons license, it allows educators to use Stanford engineering course materials in their own classrooms. 

• CS106A – Programming Methodology
• CS106B – Programming Abstractions
• CS107 – Programming Paradigms
• CS223A – Introduction to Robotics
• CS229 – Machine Learning
• EE263 – Introduction to Linear Dynamical Systems
• EE364A – Convex Optimization I
• EE364B – Convex Optimization II
• EE261 – The Fourier Transform and its Applications

Most of Stanford’s on-campus computer science courses have a companion website. Many are only open to Stanford students. But others are open to everyone, giving access to course materials such as slides, readings, and assignments. Some even provide video lessons — for instance: CS106B, CS107, CS110, CS221, CS229, CS231n, and CS224N.

Stanford Online offers a catalog of extended education, including paid professional certificates, degrees, and free content. Its Youtube channel Stanford Online offers many video lectures on topics like NLP, Deep Learning, and Machine Learning with Graphs. The courses offered include:

• CS229: Machine Learning
• CS224N: NLP with Deep Learning
• CS224W: Machine Learning with Graphs
• CS230: Deep Learning
• CS234: Reinforcement Learning
• CS330: Multi-Task and Meta-Learning

40+ Yale Free Online Courses

Since 2007, Open Yale Courses (OYC) provides selected lectures and other learning materials from Yale College courses, free of charge. Millions of learners from around the world have watched them on the OYC website, and through YouTube and iTunes U. Yale’s YouTube channel has accumulated over 154M views. The courses offered include: 

• Death
• Financial Markets (2011)
• Financial Theory
• Game Theory
• Capitalism: Success, Crisis, and Reform
• Foundations of Modern Social Theory
• Everyday Parenting: The ABCs of Child Rearing
• Introduction to Breast Cancer
• Moral Foundations of Politics
• Environmental Politics and Law

1000+ Open University Free Online Courses

The Open University offers 1000 free online courses via their OpenLearn platform. And these include free certificates of completion, or sometimes, badges.

OpenLearn takes the form of a catalog of open educational resources (OER), including articles, podcasts, videos, and of course, full-fledged online courses.

Here are some of the courses you can take on OpenLearn:

• Everyday English 1
• Information security
• The business of football
• Microbes – friend or foe?
• A brief introduction to nursing
• Getting started on classical Latin
• Intercultural competence in the workplace
• Psychological research, obedience and ethics

2500+ NPTEL Free Online Courses

The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) is an online learning repository initiated by seven Indian Institutes of Technology (Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Guwahati and Roorkee) along with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 2003.

It provides free access to over 2,300 courses in engineering, basic sciences, and selected humanities, social science, and medicine.

The videos of these courses can also be found on their YouTube channel, which since 2007 have accumulated 438M views, making NPTEL one of the most popular OCW resources on the planet. Their courses include: 

• NOC: An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
• Enhancing Soft Skills and Personality
• Basic course in Biomedical Research- Cycle 4
• An Introduction to Programming Through C++
• Programming in Java
• The Joy of Computing using Python
• Python for Data Science
• Problem solving through Programming In C
• Cloud computing
• Introduction to internet of things

150+ Michigan Free Online Courses

Open Michigan is the home for all things open at the University of Michigan, including Open Educational Resources. Learners are free to access a range of course materials, videos, lectures licensed under Creative Common. Courses include:

• Programming for Everybody
• Recommender Systems
• Introduction to Finite Element Methods
• Process Dynamics and Controls
• Networked Computing: Storage, Communication, and Processing
• Introduction to Engineering: Design in the Real World
• Introduction to Health Informatics
• Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis
• Cyberscience: Computational Science and the Rise of the Fourth Paradigm
• Household Politics: Conflict in Early Modern England

70+ Carnegie Mellon University Free Online Courses

The Open Learning Initiative (OLI) provides textbook-replacement courseware in some of the domains of research of Carnegie Mellon University. Most of them are paid (albeit often reasonably priced), but some are entirely free. There are 80+ courses, including:

• Statistical Reasoning
• Probability & Statistics
• Causal and Statistical Reasoning
• Principles of Computation with Python
• Media Programming
• Evidence-Based Management
• Introduction to Java
• Visual Design
• Logic & Proofs
• Learning to Learn Online

200+ TU Delft Free Online Courses

TU Delft launched its OpenCourseWare (OCW) website with three master’s degree programs: Water Management, Micro-electronics, and Offshore Engineering in October 2007. Today, they offer 200+ courses. These include:

• Aerospace Mechanics of Materials
• Dynamics and Stability
• Geoscience: the Earth and its Resources
• Fluid Flow, Heat & Mass Transfer
• Electric Cars: Introduction
• Electrical Power Drives
• Solar Energy
• Bed, Bank and Shoreline Protection
• Introduction to Drinking Water Treatment
• Water Management in Urban Areas

90+ University of California Irvine Free Online Courses

UC Irvine launched its OpenCourseWare in November 2006 and posts lectures on its YouTube channel. Courses include:

• BioSci 94: Organisms to Ecosystems
• MAE 91: Introduction to Thermodynamics
• Physics 20E: Life in the Universe
• Confronting Digital Extremism
• Writing Academic Essays
• Teaching Online

60+ Utah State University Free Online Courses

USU’s OpenCourseWare (OCW) provides open access to educational resources in different subjects like Anthropology, Biological and Irrigation Engineering, and Education. The latest material is from 2008 and the lectures are audio recordings. It does allow reuse. Courses include:

• Cultural Anthropology
• Biochemical Engineering
• Science of Sound
• Guide to Writing in History
• Introduction to Open Education
• Intro to Instructional Design
• Producing Distance Education Resources

200+ NTHU Free Online Courses

National Tsing Hua University is a research university in Hsinchu City, Taiwan. They host 1200+ courses in Chinese language on their OCW platform. The videos are also uploaded on their YouTube channel which since 2008 has received 10M views.

It is one of the rare OCW platforms still creating and uploading new content. You can switch between Chinese and English to browse the course information and video lectures are taught in Chinese. The latest courses include:

• Discrete Mathematics
• Complex Analysis
• Classics of Chinese Literature
• Introduction to Quantum Physics
• Thermodynamics
• Cloud Computing
• Feeling and perception
• Cellular Neuroscience
• Introduction to Applied Mathematics
• Contemporary Cognitive Neuroscience: Brain and Mind

270+ NTU Free Online Courses

National Taiwan University (NTU) is one of the most prestigious universities in Taiwan.  NTU OCW now offers 270+ courses in traditional Chinese language on the website and some course videos are also on its Youtube channel. 6 new courses were launched in 2021. The 10 most popular courses on the platform have a total of 14M views: 

• 紅樓夢
• 微積分
• 正是時候讀莊子
• 經濟學原理
• 民法總則
• 英語語音學 (含發音練習) 一
• 中國文學史
• 線性代數
• 計算機概論
• 有機化學

220+ NYCU Free Online Courses

National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) is a national university in Taiwan. NYCU OCW hosts 220 courses on its website and videos are also available on YouTube. As far as we can tell, the courses are mostly in the Chinese language. NYCU OCW Youtube channel has garnered 23M views since 2012.

50+ University of Tsukuba Free Online Courses

The University of Tsukuba, located in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, is one of the prestigious national universities established by the Japanese Government. Tsubaka OCW offers a number of courses and lecture videos in the field of Maths, Psychology, Physics, and many others. The videos are hosted on their YouTube channel which since 2013 has accumulated 2M views.

200 METU Free Online Courses

Middle East Technical University (METU) is a public technical university located in Ankara, Turkey. METU OpenCourseWare offers ~200 courses in Turkish and English. The videos are hosted on its YouTube channel which since 2013 has received 2M views.

140 Hanyang University Free Online Courses

Hanyang University is a private research university in South Korea. Their OCW Platform hosts 140 courses in Korean and English. Their YouTube channel has received 8M views since 2008.

140+ UTokyo Free Online Courses

The University of Tokyo is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. On their OCW platform, they offer 140+ courses in the Japanese Language. In 2018, they launched a Youtube channel which has since then accumulated 600k views.

55+ Kyoto University Free Online Courses

Kyoto University OpenCourseWare (OCW) actively publishes and publicly shares the videos and materials from the courses, open lectures, and international symposiums at Kyoto University. They offer 55+ courses, but also keep uploading lectures to their YouTube channel, which since 2008 has accumulated over 25M views.