On March 8, representatives from KAIST, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), UNIST, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), and the University of Science and Technology (UST) gathered in the KAIST main campus for the opening and agreement ceremony of STAR-MOOC, an online free lecture service. These five universities hope to prepare the Korean population for the Fourth Industrial Revolution by establishing this educational innovation program.

STAR-MOOC, the abbreviation of Science and Technology Advanced Research and Massive Online Open Courses, is an educational platform launched on February 26 that offers free online lectures given by professors from science and technology universities, as well as from national research institutes. It is anticipated that STAR-MOOC will strengthen the capacity and ability of the population to respond preemptively to changes during the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Although the administrative council for STAR-MOOC was only established in July of last year, the platform now provides around 15 courses in the field of science and technology and is split into three categories: basic, major, and humanities. These are some of the currently available courses: KAIST’s “Story of Cryptography”, DGIST and UNIST’s “Basic Programming Using Python”, GIST’s “Introduction to Future Energy”, POSTECH’s “Touching VR”, and UST’s “Nature-Inspired Technology”.

The representatives concluded business agreements for the development and operation of MOOC lectures and joint educational services. In addition, the platform technology agreement between STAR-MOOC and the Connect Foundation, a non-profit education foundation established by NAVER, was also introduced during the ceremony.

President Shin stated, “STAR-MOOC provides the necessary basic, major, and humanities courses for all domestic science and engineering students all within one platform,” and that “It will be an opportunity to move forward as the leading education platform in engineering education.”

STAR-MOOC courses have started on March 12. To see the available courses and additional information, visit the STAR-MOOC homepage: http://www. starmooc.kr.