Q&A about Peking University’s Global Open Courses Program

1. What is the Global Open Courses Program?

Having had a successful experience during the previous year in migrating courses and services to an online environment, Peking University has initiated its Global Open Courses Program (hereinafter, “Program”) to open some of its courses to international students outside China. All courses included in the Program are the same as Peking University’s regular courses that are offered to PKU students; the only difference is that international students can use online means to attend these in-person courses and interact in real time with PKU students. We are trying our best to improve the technology to allow online students to have the same study environment as the offline students.

2. Who can take the Global Open Courses?

Global Open Courses are open to Peking University’s overseas partner university students. If you are not sure if your university has a partnership agreement with PKU or not, please email globalopencourses@pku.edu.cn for confirmation.

3. What are the requirements to take the courses?

Courses in the Program will have the same academic requirements as other PKU courses. Each course’s academic requirement will be specified in its syllabus. The Program itself has no additional requirements. Since the salient feature of the Program’s courses is that online and offline students attend the course at the same time, no course recording will be provided. Online students must attend the classes at the same time as the offline students and will engage with their counterparts in real time during the class. Please note that the courses are taught in English.

4. What fees will be charged?

No fees will be charged for the Program in the spring 2022 semester. Fees may be charged in the future. And we are willing to explore the possibilities for online course exchange with our partner universities.

5. Can I get PKU credits from the Program?

Students may get PKU credits and transcripts after they successfully finish the course(s) and meet all requirements. As international students take these courses online and, at the same time, they also take courses from their home universities, it is highly recommended that each student select no more than two courses from the Program.