The MOOC Revolution: The MBA Core Curriculum For Free

Want to get the business basics of any great MBA curriculum for free? From the best business schools and best professors in the world?

Then, here is your guide to do it. Whether you want to learn more about a core topic such as finance, accounting, statistics, marketing, strategy or operations management, or want to do an MBA on the cheap, this is an indispensable guide to the best MOOCs in business. These courses also would be extremely helpful to incoming MBA students who want a basic grounding in the key ideas you will explore later on campus.

Introduction To Finance

School: University of Michigan (Ross)

Platform: Coursera

Link: https://www.coursera.org/course/introfinance (Includes Introductory Video)

Start Date: February 3, 2014 (15 Weeks Long)

Workload: 6-8 Hours A Week

Instructor: Gautam Kaul

Credentials: Professor Kaul has won five Excellence in Teaching awards at Ross, along with earning the Victor L. Bernard Leadership in Teaching Award in 2009. He is widely published in financial journals and teaches a variety of introductory and advanced courses, including Corporate Finance, Investment and Financial Institutions, and Sustainable Enterprise.

Graded: Students will earn a signed certificate from the instructor for successfully finishing the course.

Description: A mix of theory and real world examples, this course focuses on the fundamentals of the valuation of personal and corporate assets. Focused on problem-solving, the course contains a series of videos, where concepts and examples are introduced simultaneously. After working out practice problems, students can view Professor Kaul’s analysis, along with interacting with other students on online forums. The course will also consist of standalone assignments and a final exam. A course syllabus is available on the Coursera link.

Review: “Gautam Kaul is… the best person to lead you in the world of Finance. Why I think this course is the best introduction to Finance? First – it covers a lot in a human way. Gautam is a great pedagogue and he is a wise man too. It’s good to meet someone like him in a course that grows money on it’s cover. Second – the course is a challenge – the assignments are not easy, they are real financial problems with open answers. You have to put a little effort to complete them, and there is learning generated. Third – now, half a year later I am taking an Accounting and Statistics classes, and I’m surprise how much I already know. Finally – I learned a little Excel too, and to be able to play with Excel is kind of fun.” To read additional reviews on this course, click here.

Additional Note: Subtitles are available in Chinese, Portuguese, and Ukrainian. A list of suggested textbooks is included in the syllabus.