Today, we announced that edX and 2U will be joining together in an industry redefining combination. 2U, a global education leader, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all edX assets, including the edX brand, website, and marketplace. Together, 2U and edX will reach over 50 million learners, serve more than 230 partners, and offer over 3,500 digital programs on the world’s most comprehensive free-to-degree online education marketplace.

Together with the entire Open edX community, we’ve long envisioned a reality where education is agile and accessible. One where everyone is welcome and where the knowledge we share and the knowledge we gain propels our lives, our communities, and the world. This is a step towards building that reality and together, edX and 2U are committed to building on our shared legacies of innovation. 

This announcement is especially exciting for the Open edX community for a few key reasons:

  • The Open edX platform strategy and its components, including the Open edX community, the preferred provider program, and the core committers program, will continue. 
  • Following the closing, 2U expects to be a significant contributor of code to the Open edX platform, and the transaction is expected to increase the impact that Open edX can have in supporting learning outcomes around the world. Open edX currently powers approximately 2,400 learning sites worldwide. 
  • This is a doubly impactful transaction – not only are edX and 2U combining in a way that will redefine education, but the proceeds of the transaction will flow to the non-profit that will continue under the leadership of edX founders, Harvard and MIT. The non-profit will support investment in next-generation platforms to continue to advance learning experiences, as well as ensure that the Open edX platform is continually improved, remains open source, and powers a vibrant open source community. 
  • Fulfilling a commitment to preserve and advance the edX mission, 2U plans to operate edX as a public benefit entity, a new class of transparent, purpose-driven entities that balance public benefit with shareholder interest. 2U has also committed to continuing to pursue the edX mission by, among other things:
    • guaranteeing affordability through the continuation of a free track to audit courses; 
    • protecting the intellectual property rights of faculty and universities that contribute massive open online courses;
    • ensuring that participating colleges and universities may continue under their standing agreements with edX; 
    • protecting the privacy of individual data for all learners who use the edX platform;
    • Contributing to the ongoing development of the fully open source and independent platform Open edX, owned by the non-profit led by MIT and Harvard.

Over the past years, we have witnessed the accelerative effect that every new organization joining the Open edX community creates. It’s truly a win-win-win for learners, content creators, technologists and ecosystem organizations everywhere. 

You can read more about the news via the press release and the deal site. Please feel free to reach out to your edX team contact via email, Slack or discussion forum if you have any questions at this time. 

We thank all of the Open edX community for their incredible support and contributions and we very much look forward to the potential impact we can all have, together. 

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