Harvard University provides free online courses for students from a different educational background. These courses are called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Anyone from anywhere in the world can access and enroll in these best online courses and start learning from top teachers of the world. edX is an online learning destination and MOOC provider, founded by Harvard University and MIT in 2012. edX is offering high-quality and unique courses from the world’s best teachers and universities and institutions to learners everywhere.
edX has more than 90 global partners. The best thing about this platform is that edX university members top the QS World University Rankings with our founders receiving the top honors, and edX partner institutions ranking highly on the full list.

The courses from Harvard University can be audited free or students can choose to receive a verified certificate for a small fee. The  free online courses are available Physics, Math, Chemistry, Computer Science, Architectural, Data Anaysis & Statistics, Energy & Earth Sciences , Humanities, Social Sciences, History, Art & Culture, Law, Literature, Education & Teacher Training, Biology & Life Sciences, Health & Safety, Communication, Business & Management, Economics & Finance.

• Architectural:

  • The Architectural Imagination: Learn fundamental principles of architecture — as an academic subject or a professional career — from a study of history’s important buildings.

• Art and Culture

  • Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring: Modernism, Ballet, and Riots:Learn the fascinating history of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, one of the most challenging and rewarding ballets ever written.
  • First Nights: Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique and Program Music in the 19th Century: Learn about Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, an iconic Romantic symphony that ushered in an era of narrative “program music.”
  • First Nights – Beethoven’s 9th: Learn about Beethoven’s monumental 9th Symphony and forms of orchestral music.
  • First Nights – Handel’s Messiah: Discover Handel’s Messiah in this installment of First Nights, which will explore five masterpieces of western music.
  • Poetry in America: Modernism: Reading works by Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, Langston Hughes, Marianne Moore, William Carlos Williams, and Wallace Stevens, among others, learn how American Modernist poetry departed from past traditions and past forms.
  • Poetry in America: The Civil War and Its Aftermath: Explore the poetry of the Civil War and its aftermath.
  • Poetry in America: Emily Dickinson: This module, the fourth installment of the multi-part Poetry in America series, explores the work of Emily Dickinson. Although she never published during her lifetime, Dickinson ranks among the most prolific and widely-studied American poets.
  • Poetry in America: Whitman: This module, the third installment of the multi-part _Poetry in America _series, focuses on the poetry of Walt Whitman, a quintessentially American writer whose work continues to bear heavily upon the American poetic tradition.
  • Poetry in America: Nature and Nation, 1700-1850: This course, the second installment of the multi-part Poetry in America series, spans the poetry of America’s early years, directly before and after the creation of the Republic.
  • Visualizing Japan (1850s-1930s): Westernization, Protest, Modernity: A MITx/HarvardX collaboration, this course explores Japan’s transition into the modern world through the historical visual record.
  • Poetry in America: The Poetry of Early New England: This course, the first installment of the multi-part Poetry in America series, covers American poetry in cultural context through the year 1700. We begin with Puritan poets–some orthodox, some rebel spirits–who wrote and lived in early New England.
  • First Nights: Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and the Birth of Opera: Learn about Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, one of the first operas ever written. First Nights will explore five masterpieces of western music.
  • The Ancient Greek Hero: Discover the literature and heroes of ancient Greece through the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey, the tragedies of Sophocles, the dialogues of Plato, and more.

• Biology and Life Science

  • Introduction to Bioconductor: Annotation and Analysis of Genomes and Genomic Assays: The structure, annotation, normalization, and interpretation of genome scale assays.
  • Case Studies in Functional Genomics: Explore data analysis of several experimental protocols, using open source software, including R and Bioconductor.
  • MalariaX: Defeating Malaria from the Genes to the Globe: How can we eradicate malaria? Explore cutting-edge science and technology, and examine policies needed, to control and eliminate malaria.
  • Cell Biology: Mitochondria: A human-centered approach to the fundamentals of cell biology with a focus on the power plants of the cell – mitochondria.
  • Principles of Biochemistry: This course explores the molecules of life, starting with building blocks and culminating in complex metabolism and associated diseases.
  • Super-Earths And Life: Learn about alien life, how we search for it, and what this teaches us about our place in the universe.
  • Statistics and R: An introduction to basic statistical concepts and R programming skills necessary for analyzing data in the life sciences.
  • Introduction to Linear Models and Matrix Algebra: Learn to use R programming to apply linear models to analyze data in life sciences.
  • Statistical Inference and Modeling for High-throughput Experiments: A focus on the techniques commonly used to perform statistical inference on high throughput data.
  • High-Dimensional Data Analysis: A focus on several techniques that are widely used in the analysis of high-dimensional data.
  • High-performance Computing for Reproducible Genomics: Learn how to bridge from diverse genomic assay and annotation structures to data analysis and research presentations via innovative approaches to computing.
  • AnatomyX: Musculoskeletal Cases: Learn anatomy basic to understanding common musculoskeletal injuries. Follow hypothetical patients from injury to operating room.

• Business and Management

  • Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies: Explore how entrepreneurship and innovation tackle complex social problems in emerging economies.
  • ContractsX 2017: Contracts are a part of our everyday life, arising in collaboration, trust, promise and credit. How are contracts formed? What makes a contract enforceable? What happens when one party breaks a promise?
  • Innovating in Health Care: Improve critical thinking about healthcare entrepreneurship by reading, discussing, and analyzing case studies and writing a business plan.

• Chemistry

  • Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science (part 1): Top chefs and Harvard researchers explore how everyday cooking and haute cuisine can illuminate basic principles in physics and engineering.
  • The Quantum World: Learn the core of quantum mechanics, and program simulations in Python to apply quantum theory to chemistry.

• Communications

  • Leaders of Learning: Explore and understand your own theories of learning and leadership. Gain the tools to imagine and build the future of learning.

• Computer Science

  • Introduction to Computer Science: An introduction to the intellectual enterprises of computer science and the art of programming.
  •  CS50’s Understanding Technology: This is CS50’s introduction to technology for students who don’t (yet!) consider themselves computer persons.
  • CS50’s Computer Science for Business Professionals: This is CS50’s introduction to computer science for business professionals.
  • AP® Computer Science Principles: This is CS50 AP, Harvard University’s introduction to the intellectual enterprises of computer science and the art of programming for students in high school, which satisfies the College Board’s new AP CS Principles curriculum framework.
  • Using Python for Research: Take your introductory knowledge of Python programming to the next level and learn how to use Python 3 for your research.

• Data Analysis and Statistics

  • Data Science: R Basics: In this first course of eight in the HarvardX Data Science series, we learn the basic building blocks of R. The series will cover data wrangling with dplyr, visualization with ggplot2, with ggplot2, file organization with UNIX/Linux, version control with git and GitHub, and reproducible document preparation with RStudio.
  • Causal Diagrams: Draw Your Assumptions Before Your Conclusions: Learn simple graphical rules that allow you to use intuitive pictures to improve study design and data analysis for causal inference.
  • Principles, Statistical and Computational Tools for Reproducible Science: Learn skills and tools that support data science and reproducible research, to ensure you can trust your own research results, reproduce them yourself, and communicate them to others.

• Design

  • Game Design: Introductory and advanced online game design courses are more than just learning how to design a game. Online courses and programs are designed to introduce you to each of these areas and jump-start your career in this exciting and rapidly expanding field. Many courses are free, self-paced and can be completed in approximately 6-8 weeks.
  • Ideation: An introduction to the methods and goals of the idea development process from major universities and institutions worldwide. Edx offers both individual courses and advanced programs designed to help you learn about critical thinking, design thinking, new idea generation techniques and much more in an engaging and effective online learning environment complete with video tutorials, quizzes and more.

• Economics and Finance

  • Energy Within Environmental Constraints: A quantitative introduction to the energy system and its environmental impacts.
  • CitiesX: The Past, Present and Future of Urban Life: Explore what makes cities energizing, amazing, challenging, and perhaps humanity’s greatest invention.

• Education and Teacher Training

  • Introduction to Family Engagement in Education: Learn about successful collaborations between families and educators and why they lead to improved outcomes for students and schools.

• Energy and Earth Sciences

  • The Climate-Energy Challenge: Learn more about the science behind climate change.

• History

  • PredictionX: John Snow and the Cholera Epidemic of 1854: An in-depth look at the 1854 London cholera epidemic in Soho and its importance for the field of epidemiology.
  • Religion, Conflict and Peace: Explore the diverse and complex roles that religions play in both promoting and mitigating violence.
  • Tangible Things: Discovering History Through Artworks, Artifacts, Scientific Specimens, and the Stuff Around You: Gain an understanding of history, museum studies, and curation by looking at, organizing, and interpreting art, artifacts, scientific curiosities, and the stuff of everyday life.
  • China (Part 1): Political and Intellectual Foundations: From the Sage Kings to Confucius and the Legalists: An overview of China, historically, geographically, and culturally, starting with the origins and legitimation of China, followed by an exploration of the integral thinkers of the early period.
  • China (Part 2): The Creation and End of Centralized Empire: Part 2 covers the period from the Qin to the Sui with the creation of the first unified empire and an exploration of state building and dissolution, focusing on the realization of the self and the influence of Buddhism during the medieval period.
  • China (Part 3): Cosmopolitan Tang: Aristocratic Culture: Part 3 explores the reunification of China under Tang with a focus on Chinese aristocratic culture during the Tang period from poetry to calligraphy to literature.
  • China (Part 4): Literati China: Examinations and Neo-Confucianism: Part 4 takes us from the early imperial period to the late imperial period exploring new ideas and the role of the exam system and government with a focus on the Song dynasty.
  • China (Part 5): From a Global Empire under the Mongols to a Global Economy under the Ming Dynasty: Part 5 explores the impact of the conquest dynasties and the world of the Ming.
  • China (Part 6): The Manchus and the Qing Dynasty: Part 6 covers the Manchus and the Qing dynasty.
  • China (Part 7): Invasions, Rebellions and the Fall of Imperial China: Part 7 includes an overview of modern Chinese history, then covers the fall of the Qing dynasty and the end of imperial China.
  • China (Part 8): Creating Modern China: The Birth of a Nation: Part 8 explores the birth of modern China, focusing on four broad themes of the modern period, from the republican period to the present. The main time period covered is from the fall of the Qing to the end of World War II.
  • China (Part 9): China and Communism: Part 9 explores the Maoist period of China from the rise of the Chinese Communist Party to the death of Mao and the reopening of China.
  • China (Part 10): Greater China Today: The People’s Republic, Taiwan, and Hong Kong: Part 10 covers the period from Deng Xiaoping to the present. It will explore five main themes utilizing the case method to better understand China today; it will end with the exploration of the question “Can China Lead?”
  • The Einstein Revolution: Traces Albert Einstein’s engagement with relativity, quantum mechanics, Nazism, nuclear weapons, philosophy, the arts, and technology.
  • Early Christianity: The Letters of Paul: The course “Early Christianity: The Letters of Paul” explores the context of these letters in the Roman Empire and the impact of these powerful texts today.

• Health & Safety
  • Improving Global Health: Focusing on Quality and Safety: Access to healthcare services is critical – but is it enough?
  • Readings in Global Health: Learn about the most pressing issues in global health through a series of reviews and interviews with leading experts.
  • Humanitarian Response to Conflict and Disaster: Learn the principles guiding humanitarian response to modern emergencies, and the challenges faced in the field today.
  • PH556X: Practical Improvement Science in Health Care: A Roadmap for Getting Results: Learn the skills and tools of improvement science to make positive changes in health, healthcare, and your daily life.
  • Global Health Case Studies from a Biosocial Perspective: Reimagine global health problems with some of the leading global health thinkers and actors through a case-based biosocial framework.
  • Fundamentals of Clinical Trials: Clinical trials play a pivotal role in evidence-based medicine. This course will discuss the design, conduct, analysis, and interpretation of Phase I-IV clinical studies.
  • Health and Society: The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the major social variables that affect population health.
  • United States Health Policy: Learn the essentials of U.S. health care policy from some of the nation’s top experts.
  • Lessons from Ebola: Preventing the Next Pandemic: Understanding the context for the Ebola outbreak: What went right, what went wrong, and how we can all do better.

• Humanities

  • China Humanities: The Individual in Chinese Culture: Explore Chinese history and culture from the perspective of the individual through philosophical texts, literary works, and art.
  • Justice: Justice, one of the most famous courses taught at Harvard College, is an introduction to moral and political philosophy, offering an opportunity to discuss contemporary dilemmas and controversies.
  • Judaism Through Its Scriptures: Learn about the key beliefs and practices of Judaism through an examination of its sacred texts and their interpretation.
  • The Book: Making and Meaning in the Medieval Manuscript: Explore the process of creation, and  the relationship between making and meaning, in the illuminated manuscripts of the western Middle Ages.
  • The Book: Scrolls in the Age of the Book: Examine Medieval scrolls in detail, and gain an understanding of their uses and historical significance.
  • The Book: Print and Manuscript in Western Europe, Asia and the Middle East (1450-1650): Learn how book printing first developed and shaped the modern book by examining some examples of rare materials from Harvard’s collections.
  • Buddhism Through Its Scriptures: Learn about the rich and diverse beliefs and practices of Buddhists across time and place. Experience Buddhism through its scriptures, both relationally as well as academically.
  • Islam Through Its Scriptures: Learn about the Quran, the central sacred text of Islam, through an exploration of the rich diversity of roles and interpretations in Muslim societies.
  • Hinduism Through Its Scriptures: Learn about the rich diversity of Hindu sacred texts – hymns, narratives, philosophical thought – and their interpretations.

• Law

  • JuryX: Deliberations for Social Change: Deliberate emotionally charged issues with your peers online without fear or rancor, and experience a system by which a jury, or any community, can move from a place of deep division to agreement and action.

• Literature

  • Ancient Masterpieces of World Literature: Examine how cultures of the ancient world defined themselves through literature and how their vision of literature contributes to our understanding of civilization, culture, and literature today.
  • Modern Masterpieces of World Literature: Examine how great modern writers capture the intricacies of our globalized world and how their works circulate within that world to find their own audiences.
  • Shylock’s Bond: An exploration of the magnetic and ambivalent character of Shylock in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.
  • Hamlet’s Ghost: An exploration of the haunting figure at the heart of one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays.
  • Masterpieces of World Literature: Embark on a global journey to explore the past, present, and future of World Literature.

• Math

  • Calculus Applied: Apply tools of single-variable calculus to create and analyze mathematical models used by real practitioners in social, life, and physical sciences.
  • Fat Chance: Probability from the Ground Up: Increase your quantitative reasoning skills through a deeper understanding of probability and statistics.
• Medicine
  • The Opioid Crisis in America: Learn about the opioid epidemic in the United States, including information about treatment and recovery from opioid addiction.

• Physics 

  • Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science (physics): Top chefs and Harvard researchers explore how traditional and modernist cooking techniques can illuminate basic principles in chemistry, physics, and engineering. Learn about elasticity, viscosity, mayonnaise, baking, and more!

• Social Science

  • PredictionX: Diviner’s Guide: This course is an overview of divination systems, ranging from ancient Chinese bone burning to modern astrology.
  • American Government: A comprehensive introduction to American government and politics—its foundations, institutions, organizations, and policies.
  • Saving Schools: Reforming the U.S. Education System:  An overview of the past, present, and future of the United States public K-12 education system