Education technology firm 2U, Inc. and edX, a nonprofit online course provider founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have announced an $800 million agreement that will benefit a nonprofit organization dedicated to inclusive learning.

Proceeds from 2U's acquisition of edX's assets for $800 million in cash will flow to a nonprofit run by Harvard and MIT focused on reimagining the future of learning, addressing educational inequalities, and advancing learning experiences and platforms. To that end, the nonprofit will collaborate with educational institutions, governments, and other organizations to develop and evaluate new approaches to learning and pedagogy; invest in new learning models that combine the best of online and in-person instruction; promote the adoption of best practices across the education continuum; support innovation in lifelong learning; and enhance next-generation platforms including Open edX.

2U plans to operate edX as a public benefit entity, which will offer more than thirty-five hundred digital programs, reaching approximately fifty million learners globally. 2U also has committed to guaranteeing affordability through the continuation of a free track to audit courses; protecting the intellectual property rights of faculty and universities; protecting data privacy; and contributing to the development of the fully open-source and independent platform Open edX.

"The transformative power of education is the single best hope for individuals and for society. Through this nonprofit initiative to reimagine learning, Harvard and MIT are uniting to tackle the kind of persistent inequities in education which the pandemic brought so starkly to light," Harvard president Larry Bacow and MIT president Rafael Reif said in a joint statement. "Our hope is to tap into what we have learned about digital learning and to push the frontiers of learning toward greater equity and greater impact."

(Photo credit: edX)