The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania will offer a Business Foundations Specialization package through Coursera, combining the School’s highly successful four-course Foundation Series with a Capstone Project that allows participants to apply their knowledge to real-world business problems.

Taught by faculty from one of the top business schools in the world, the Wharton Business Foundations Specialization provides a Coursera Verified Certificate for participants who complete the four courses in Wharton’s Foundation Series – Accounting, Finance, Marketing and Operations Management – as well as the Capstone Project.

The Capstone Project uniquely allows participants to complete a project with industry partners to help solve a specific real-world problem. Wharton has initial partner agreements with Snapdeal and Shazamto provide Capstone project topics.

"The Business Foundations Specialization continues our outreach to students around the world, especially those who want to sample the power of Wharton knowledge," said Geoff Garrett, Dean of the Wharton School. "We are especially excited about the unique industry partnerships we can offer through the Capstone Project, allowing participants a glimpse into the real challenges businesses face."

KunalBahl, CEO and Co-Founder, Snapdeal.com, said, "We are excited about our association with The Wharton School through Coursera to play a key part in building knowledge capital of the digital future on a global canvas. My time as a student of M&T program in The Wharton School profoundly influenced my career path and my outlook towards life. It was at once both enriching and liberating. This is the power of applied knowledge and it gives me immense pleasure to now be in a position to co-create life-changing learning opportunities for a global pool of highly motivated learners in the domain of business foundations."

Wharton will invite the top 50 performers each year to apply to one of the School’s graduate business programs, and waive the application fee. It will also offer up to five $20,000 scholarships to students admitted to its MBA program who have excelled in completion ofthe Specialization in the previous twelve months.

"A key component for us as an institution is the possibility to identify talent from a pool of participants who might not have considered business education before," said Dean Garrett.

The Wharton Business Foundations Specialization begins this spring with An Introduction to Marketing on April 6th, led by Professors Barbara Kahn, David Bell and Peter Fader.

All courses in a Specialization series must be taken through the Coursera Verified Certificate path to be considered completed. The cost of the four courses and the Capstone Project with a Verified Certificate is $595. Additional details regarding course format and curricula of the Wharton Business Foundation Specialization, and all other Wharton online opportunities, can be found at http://online.wharton.upenn.edu.

About the Wharton School

Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. With a broad global community and one of the most published business school faculties, Wharton creates ongoing economic and social value around the world. The School has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 9,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and a powerful alumni network of more than 93,000 graduates.

About Coursera

Coursera is a destination for accessing the world’s best education. More than 100 of the world’s top universities and organization offer courses on Coursera in fields ranging from data science to public health to teacher professional development. Over 11 million learners globally have come to Coursera to gain knowledge and earn Verified Certificates to advance their lives, careers and communities.