Coursera does the same. As an important contributor to education access, I expected more than indiscriminate banning of people, because of the country they are in while the law allows it specifically. Especially that is more important for Iranians under current the government.
It is important to be informed, the other option is to fall victim to the propaganda fed on national television to us every day.
For more context refer to list of sanctions and exemptions of Iran in treasury.gov [2] Iran License (No.G) contains more context.
[1] (https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/126/iran_glg.pdf) [2] (https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/sanctions-programs-and-country-information/iran-sanctions)
I wonder if these MOOC providers don't want to go through the headache of proving that their courses are equivalent and therefore preemptively took them down.
Most STEM courses would not qualify, because most of them are not requirements for an undergraduate degree in humanities, social science, law, or business. Looking at the courses I've taken from EdX and Coursera, I think that the only one that might qualify for the exception is game theory--it might be required for some social science degrees.
All the others were equivalent to courses required for STEM degrees only.
It is interesting because my undergraduate degree in a social science, economics, required that I take at least 2 stem courses. Typically the requirement is filled by 2 introductory level science courses but I'm sure higher level science courses would have satisfied it as well. It would certainly be a risk to offer courses with out further guidance from the state department.
I think there might be space for a smaller company/non-profit to test this. If your organization's sole mission is to provide this content to Iranians. The legal uncertainty could provide a big enough moat to establish yourself.
(I suspect that accepting payment from Iran is another huge risk in itself)
well, except for accomplishing the first bullet on their mission statement.[0]
'Increase access to high-quality education for everyone, everywhere'
[0]: https://open.edx.org/about-open-edx/
Or even here [1] from 2014
> Tena Herlihy, edX’s general counsel, said the company has since last May worked with the U.S. State Department and the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, and has so far applied for and received company-specific licenses for its MOOCs to enroll students in Cuba and Iran (a third license, for Sudan, is still in the works).
Is that the best use of extremely limited exec time, fully taking the mission into account?
[1] https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/28/state-dept-bl...
I had to delay my online masters degree because of the fear of being denies access to the courses material, because I can't risk spending what is literally my three years work savings in Syria to get nothing.
They often think that it's easier for them to just deny all of the sanctioned countries access than having to get through a legal problem. And this applies to many things other than the MOOCs that are not sanctioned or sanctions don't apply to if you're living in another country.
Nonsense. I wish HN readers would actually think before they type.
Sanctions are:
1) moderately effective in the long run at turning a belligerent state back into farmers
2) cheaper and less destructive than military invasion.
> they indiscriminately cause hardships to citizens
There is no way to target the leadership specifically. For example, the North Korean leaders still get foreign luxury goods regardless of any embargoes.
The Iranian people remember the history of Iran when it was called Persia, before it became an Islamic Republic.
From reporting I've read, Iranians love the US and hate their government, as if that actually mattered to anybody outside Iran.
An example of an Iranian denied education.