A student downloads "Rain Classroom", a smart mobile app for blended learning jointly designed by Tsinghua University and XuetangX. [Photo/xuetangx.com]

XuetangX, the world's first Chinese MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) platform founded by Tsinghua University, will see Tsinghua University to launch online certificate programs on its platform soon.

The first two online certificate programs are about public management and data science. Not a degree program, the each certificate program consists of six series of courses that will be lectured through livestreams or video lessons. Online learners need to finish learning all the courses and assignments, and passed the exam within one year to be issued a certificate by Tsinghua University's Online Education Office and related departments.  

The programs mark another milestone in China's development of MOOC integrating production, teaching and application. 

Apart from being a short-cut towards certificates and credits, the program aims to endow students with various skills and abilities that can win them an upper hand against their peers in the workplace.

It's also the first heavy-weight move between Tsinghua University and XuetangX to upgrade the Chinese MOOC industry. XuetangX will carry out supervised online exams and favorable incentive mechanisms to motivate more students to finish the courses they have signed up for. Tsinghua University, on the other hand, is pulling together efforts to design more online certificate programs regarding computer programming and basic finance.

Over the past five years, the wild growth of the MOOC industry has boasted many fruitful achievements, such as rapid increase in MOOC courses in number, higher course quality, more teacher engagement, and the overwhelming popularity of blended learning.

"Our cooperation with XuetangX is a creative exploration of non-degree education where the applicability of each program should be hailed as the priority among priorities," said Yang Bin, vice president of Tsinghua University.

Established in 2013, XuetangX has become the perfect tool for people of all ages to keep lifelong learning. As, the online platform has over 12 million registered users and some 1500 MOOC courses.