NetEase Adds an Online Course Platform to Its Education Offerings

NetEase, one of the biggest Internet companies in China, launched an online course platform today. On its live classes, educational apps, e-materials, and other tools will be available.

Not only will NetEase upload educational content, it will also introduce third-party educational organizations onto the platform. For the traditional educational organizations who don’t know how to establish online presence, NetEase will offer tech support.

Almost all the big Internet players in China, Alibaba, Tencent, YY and Baidu have launched similar platforms to their advantages.

NetEase but was one of the first in China to put effort in online education. The company’s online portal began offering online courses licensed from western universities in 2010. In 2012 Cloud Class, an e-learning service for students, was launched — But this project seems to haven’t got traction.

Youdao, a brand under the company and who developed the platform, developed some of the most popular educational software in China, including Youdao Dictionary. Youdao has had 400 million users with 60 million monthly active.

NetEase is the official partner of Coursera in China, hosting content for it and translating other languages into Chinese.

The company also invested in Tizi, an online education service for K-12 that was founded by the founder and former CEO of Jiayuan.com.