PUCRS Online program on Leadership, Ability to Learn and Resilience hit big on social media
Photo: Release
With over a million registered students, PUCRS Online free course on Leadership, Learning Ability and Resilience, taught by activist Malala Yousafzai, youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, had one of the largest number of students who signed up for online classes in the program. In the evening of Aug 23 alone, around 100,000 students watched Malala live.
The course, offered by PUCRS, one of the most recognized private universities in Brazil and Latin America, in partnership with UOL EdTech, the largest Brazilian technology company for education in Brazil, was one of Twitter’s Trending Topics because of the course content and the activist’s relevance. The attendance for the session was so impressive that the total number of applicants could fill Maracanã stadium 12 times over, or in terms of students, it could fill 2,000 classrooms with 50 students each.
Moreover, if you printed all certificates and placed them side by side, it would stretch over 60 kilometers. Students from over 50 countries joined the course, including Finland, the United States, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Australia, Mexico and Chile – some of which have the best education rates in the world.
PUCRS’ Director of Continuing Education, Dr. Renata Bernardon highlights the relevance of the activist’s participation.
“Malala has made an extraordinary contribution to the history of education around the world and bringing her to our PUCRS Online project reinforces our commitment to providing a learning experience with major exponents. It was a very timely moment for us to discuss social transformation based on education, such as democratization and the greater impact of education”.
Malala has become one of the greatest examples of the transformative power of education after falling victim to an attack for defending girls’ rights for an education in her country. She is currently one of the main activists for the education of women around the globe and a major exponent in the advocacy of human rights. In the program offered by PUCRS, she discussed inspiring topics about the importance of education for professional and personal development.
In addition to attending the class delivered by Malala, the students registered in PUCRS Online had the chance to customize their program, by choosing from two instructors for the second class, on Aug 25: Leandro Karnal, one of the greatest thinkers of current times, and Flávio Augusto, one of the most admired businessmen in Brazil.
PUCRS Online is a teaching model of PUCRS relying on the technology of UOL EdTech. The model and methodology are pioneers in offering certificate program entirely online in the country, whose portfolio includes courses in all areas and classes taught by great national and international names.
