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December 9th, 2014

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There are now 41,000 students enrolled on an online course entitled ‘Origins’ offered by the University of Copenhagen, the University Post reports.

This is more than the 26,588 students who are currently enrolled at the university, according to the KU website.

Looking for answers
The course investigates "the origins of everything" from the Big Bang to the Solar System, and is offered via the online provider Coursera.

It is run in partnership with the University of Copenhagen’s Natural History Museum of Denmark and includes lectures given from the museum and trips into the Danish landscape.

Everything required for the course is available online, and sign ups are still open.

All you need is time – and an internet connection
One of the few resources required to complete the course is "the time to dig deep into the origins of all things", according to its Coursera profile – however this seems to be lacking for many of the students.

Just one quarter of the 41,000 actually watch the online lectures or take part in the online forum discussions.

However, this is still vastly more than the 52 students who are enrolled on the course in person, and 2,000 posts have already been made in the community forums.

International appeal
People from 172 different countries are enrolled online, and many students have reported that the course has inspired them to visit Denmark.

Although the University Post reports that 47 percent of students do not see the course as useful to their future careers, the founder of the course, Henrik Haack, sees this as a positive thing as it proves they are enrolled out of genuine interest.

“I’m so happy that we were invited to do this course when I see how well our course has been received, both internationally and from our own students here at the university. We’re proud of what we’ve done,” he told the University Post.