U.S. Permits Academic Exchanges With Iran, Including Providing MOOCs – The Ticker - Blogs - The Chronicle of Higher Education

"The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Thursday issued a license that authorizes academic exchanges between the United States and Iran, and allows Iranian students to participate in U.S.-based massive open online courses, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Office of Foreign Assets Control is the agency responsible for administering economic sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy. Under a document it released on Thursday, Iran General License G, accredited American colleges and universities are permitted 'to establish and operate undergraduate and graduate academic exchange agreements with Iranian universities, including the provision of scholarships to participating Iranian students,' according to a notice on the department’s website. The document also permits individuals in Iran to sign up for and participate in undergraduate-level online courses, including MOOCs. The question of access to MOOCs in Iran arose in January, when Coursera, a top provider of such courses, said U.S. sanctions had forced it to block students in penalized countries, such as Cuba, Iran, and Sudan. A Coursera representative didn’t immediately respond to the Journal’s question about whether MOOC access would be restored for Iranian students."