Indians are looking to nail down two skills to advance their careers

When it comes to taking classes online, Indians are dedicated to technology and English lessons.

In 2016, most of the top 10 courses taken up by Indians on online learning platform Coursera were on technology and English grammar and conversation skills. India is Coursera’s second-largest market, after the US, with nearly 2 million users.

Coursera offers 1,670 courses in subjects such as business management, science, and the arts on its website, taught by faculty members from universities across the world, including Stanford University and Ivy League schools. Founded in 2011 by Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng from Stanford University, Coursera has emerged as one of the world’s largest providers of massive open online courses (MOOCs).

Here are the most popular Coursera courses in India:

The preference for courses in technology comes as no surprise, given India’s obsession with engineering degrees. Though the country’s technology boom has led to a proliferation of engineering institutes, which churn out millions of graduates, the quality of education on offer remains woefully sub-standard. That, combined with a growing youth population in Asia’s third-largest economy and the competitive job market, has resulted in many students scrambling to take better courses to stand out. And that’s where online education comes in. English courses are also popular in India for similar reasons: being fluent in the language is seen as an essential professional and social skill.

India’s technology capital, Bengaluru, topped the list for the most number of Coursera users, accounting for nearly 50% of all enrolments in the country.

Growing popularity

Coursera entered India in 2014 and has seen its user base soar since then.

This year, India trumped the UK to become Coursera’s second-largest revenue earner after the US. Currently, the company has 1.8 million registered users in India, accounting for 8.1% of its worldwide user base of 22 million.

In the past year alone, enrolments in the country jumped 50%, making India Coursera’s fastest-growing market.