The past few years have seen an exponential increase in the number of Moocs(massive open online courses). In Europe, for example, it is estimated that the number nearly tripled in the two years to 2015 (from 276 to 770). Of these, about 120 are business Moocs.

Some of these courses have been developed by business schools, and some by schools utilising platforms such as Coursera, FutureLearn, Iversity and Udacity. Some platforms encourage professors, especially well-known academics, to use their infrastructure to create a Mooc.

The number of Mooc participants has also shot up. It is estimated that there were 1.9m Coursera students in 2012, which rose to 10m by late 2014. Completion rates appear to be low, however, at about 4 per cent. Some 50 per cent of those who register never watch the first video.