University of Cape Town Courses

Financial Regulation in Emerging Markets and the Rise of Fintech Companies

5

Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeThis course gives an overview of the changing regulatory environment since the 1997 Asian and 2008 global financial crisis. Following these two major crises, governments around the globe enacted a set of far-reaching new financial regulations that are aimed towards safeguarding financial stability. However, banks find it increasingly difficult to be profitable in this new regulatory environment. Technology, at the same time, has taken important leaps forward with the emergence of sophisticated models of artificial intelligence and the invention of the blockchain. These two developments fuel the emergence of fintech companies around the world. This course discusses fintech regulation in emerging markets using case studies from China and South Africa. The course pays special attention to the socioeconomic environment in emerging markets, as well as to political risk as a major source of uncertainty for fintech entrepreneurs. Peer-to-peer lending and remittances are used as leading examples for fintech innovation in emerging markets.

Julia Scientific Programming

4.1

Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeThis four-module course introduces users to Julia as a first language.Julia is a high-level, high-performance dynamic programming language developed specifically for scientific computing. This language will be particularly useful for applications in physics, chemistry, astronomy, engineering, data science, bioinformatics and many more. As open source software, you will always have it available throughout your working life. It can also be used from the command line, program files or a new type of interface known as a Jupyter notebook (which is freely available as a service from JuliaBox.com).Julia is designed to address the requirements of high-performance numerical and scientific computing while also being effective for general-purpose programming. You will be able to access all the available processors and memory, scrape data from anywhere on the web, and have it always accessible through any device you care to use as long as it has a browser.Join us to discover new computing possibilities. Let's get started on learning Julia.By the end of the course you will be able to:- Programme using the Julia language by practising through assignments- Write your own simple Julia programs from scratch- Understand the advantages and capacities of Julia as a computing language- Work in Jupyter notebooks using the Julia language- Use various Julia packages such asPlots, DataFrames and StatsThe course is delivered through video lectures, on-screen demonstrations, quizzes and practical peer-reviewed projects designed to give you an opportunity to work with the packages.

Building Fintech Startups in Emerging Markets

0

Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeStarting a small business in an emerging market can be very rewarding. Many of entrepreneurship opportunities in emerging markets arise out of necessity, or the drive to solve a real need or a social problem. Thus emerging markets often offer huge opportunities for disruptive innovation. Entrepreneurship has contributed to economic growth and been able to respond to social problems, helping some communities prosper. With the rise of fintech, financial solutions using technologies such as the cloud, blockchain and machine learning have by-passed or partnered with established financial institutions to serve new markets. This course takes us through the basics from “What is entrepreneurship?” to applying commonly used business planning tools, such as design thinking and business model canvas. Design thinking is a methodology that encourages startups to focus on user-centric products and services. There are also insights on topics like regulation, intellectual property, funding and growth that are important for startups.I’ve invited along experts who teach and support entrepreneurs. This includes some really interesting people in various stages of their start-up business development. We will be talking with Zlto (a digital currency), Yoco (mobile payments), Proof of Steak (alternative asset investment) and Kuba (a digital ‘middleman’ for small businesses) to name a few. As we will learn, there is no such thing as being ‘ready’ or, choosing the ‘perfect time’ to become an entrepreneur. You are already one, so let’s take the next steps on your entrepreneurial journey by joining your peers around the world on this course. This course is for everyone, and not only those interested in only fintech.

Curso con proyecto final: Comienza tu futuro en fintech

0

Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeEste es el curso final de la especialización en mercados emergentes para fintech. Asumimos que ya completaste los tres primeros cursos de la especialización. Para este proyecto final, necesitarás preparar un lienzo de modelo de negocio y una presentación para tu startup. Para hacerlo, tendrás que identificar oportunidades y ofrecer un nuevo servicio, producto o aplicación, evaluar el contexto regulatorio y proponer tecnologías apropiadas de índole tecnofinanciera o no. Las tres partes principales del plan de negocios son las siguientes: (i) la declaración de desafío empresarial para identificar oportunidades de nuevos servicios y clientes; (ii) un lienzo de modelo de negocio, que incluirá un análisis de factibilidad y también una evaluación del contexto regulatorio; y (iii) una grabación de una presentación en la que se debe desarrollar un estrategia de presentación.

Innovative Finance: Hacking finance to change the world

5

Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeTo address global poverty - do we really not have enough resources or do we not have the right tools to allocate our resources? The tools of finance, when applied correctly, can be an enabler of social and environmental outcomes. This course is designed to give you the ability to build innovative financing strategies that work towards outcomes such as financial inclusion, access to energy and access to education.The innovative finance process has five key components.It starts with identifying the outcomes you are looking to achieve and next moves on to due diligencing your issue area using techniques like design thinking to make sure you are designing with the end user.Next you must map all of the resources available for your outcome and then discover opportunities to augment these through business model innovation, multi-stakeholder partnerships and innovative financial structures.Finally, the last step is to put all of these pieces together to design an innovating financing strategy.Each week dives into a component of the process using examples and real case studies from social entrepreneurs, non-profits, development funders, impact investors, governments, foundations and more.Over five weeks you’ll learn about new types of revenue creation, financing approaches, business models and partnerships. By the end of the course, you’ll have the ability to hack finance for social change.Watch the course trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSMUoCJgqkw

Educating Deaf Children: Becoming an Empowered Teacher

0

Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeMany Deaf children around the world still leave school functionally illiterate. In some cases there is no allowance made for education of Deaf children at all. This 4 week course provides you with invaluable knowledge and skills about teaching Deaf children. You will learn about the importance of Deaf culture and community, the need for a language rich environment for the Deaf child from as young as possible, and that having access to sign language can help Deaf children academically, emotionally, and socially. We also cover various accommodations and modifications that you can apply in your classroom and learning environment to create an accessible learning experience for Deaf children. You will also find that a shift in attitude will enable you to connect with Deaf children with more understanding. This course does not teach sign language since each country has its own sign language. We hope that through this course you become an empowered teacher - for yourself, for your fellow teachers, and most importantly, for the Deaf children in your classroom.You will be able to purchase a Verified Certificate if you wish to show evidence of your achievements, but this is optional, and you may apply for Financial Aid if you are unable to pay the certificate fee.

Severe to Profound Intellectual Disability: Circles of Care and Education

4.6

Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeThis course is about caring for and educating children (and youth) with severe to profound intellectual disability. We use the idea of 'circles' to position the child at the center of the many levels of support needed. Around the child are circles of care and education - such as the parents, family, friends, caregivers, educators, health care workers and others such as neighbors, business owners and community members. Each one has an important role to play in the life of a person with an intellectual disability and can be seen as a caregiver and educator. Although this course is aimed particularly at caregivers who work at aspecial centre or in a private home, each person in the circle of care and education plays a valuable role and will find the course useful.During the course you can gain greater understanding about intellectual disability,levels of severity of intellectual disability and the history of intellectual disability. You will also start to understand how you can support children and youth with severe to profound intellectual disability so that they can reach their full potential and become participating members of society.We look at lifelong learning by exploring brain development, the learning process and how to maximise the opportunities for learning.With input from a range of experts,we consider how best learning can be facilitated.This includes looking at children’s learning support needs, how to go about planning activities for the learning programme as well as how to empower multiple people who work in a team to care and educate children with severe to profound intellectual disability.In the last week, we focus on rights, advocacy and relationships of care. Empowering and caring for caregivers themselves is a key focus of the course.For professional development purposes, you can purchase a Verified Certificate if you wish to show evidence of your achievements, but this is optional, and you can apply for Financial Aid if you are unable to pay the certificate fee.

Climate Adaptation in Africa

0

Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeThis course explores why climate change adaptation is important in the African context. Africa is considered one to be one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change. Historically, climate-related hazards such as drought, flooding, pest and disease outbreaks, coastal storms and heat waves have had devastating impacts on people and the environment in which they live. Often the damage knocks back progress that has been made in social and economic development, slowing down the achievement of development goals.Climate models suggest that many of these climatic hazards will intensify as the global climate warms. Building resilience to climate risks, through adaptation, is critically important for future development in Africa.The course will examine adaptation in theory and in practice, through a focus on four sectors that are critically important for climate resilient development in Africa: Water Security, Agriculture and Food Security, Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services and Resilient Cities.

What is a Mind?

4.9

This free online course will bring together learners and practitioners interested in how the mind works. It aims to build bridges between traditionally antagonistic approaches to understanding the mind.What is a mind?Thisquestion has perplexed philosophers, scientists, historians and ordinary people across time and cultures.While advances in the medical understanding of how the brain functions can shed light on neurological functions and disorders, the essential question of what the mind is speaks to a different problem.This problem cannot be answered by a purely scientific understanding of the brain, nor by a purely philosophical or psychological approach. Many disciplines have attempted to address the question, resulting in multiple and sometimes antithetical answers.New understandings of the mindOn this course, Professor Mark Solms, Chair of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town, will adopt a multidisciplinary approach.He will bring in perspectives from a range of disciplines, to explore four specific aspects of the mind-subjectivity, intentionality, consciousness and agency.Together, these will help us think about the fundamental questions: what it is to be a mind, why we have a mind and what it feels like to have a mind.You can find out more in Professor Mark Solms’s posts for the FutureLearn blog: “What is a mind? One of the great mysteries of our time” and “Thinking and feeling: what’s the difference?”This course is aimed at anyone with an interest in psychology and the mind. The course will also appeal to practitioners, students and researchers from a range of disciplines, whose work directly or indirectly looks at the mind and the brain. This includes, but is not limited to neuroscience, psychology, psychoanalysis, philosophy, psychiatry and neurology.

How Entrepreneurs in Emerging Markets can master the Blockchain Technology

5

Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeIn this course, you will gain a thorough understanding of the blockchain and distributed ledger technologies, including an introduction to the necessary foundations in cryptography. The course will discuss blockchain as a distributed ledger and introduce distributed consensus as a mechanism to maintain the integrity of the blockchain. The other revolutionary technologies that are changing the world as we speak are artificial intelligence and machine learning. You will learn about the three major types of AI algorithms: supervised and unsupervised machine learning, as well as reinforcement learning. You will learn about the application of blockchain outside of finance. In particular, how blockchain fundamentally changes the way we deal with our personal data. You will see how the web 2.0 model--where big companies like facebook and google collect as much of your personal data as possible to sell it to third parties--is coming to an end. The new web 3.0 is decentralized and uses the power of the blockchain to put users in full control over their own data. Finally, we will look at the benefits and considerations of blockchain and whether blockchain is the right solution for your problem.#UCTFintech

Large Marine Ecosystems: Assessment and Management

0

Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeFocusing on the Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) of the world, this course will introduce the concept and practice of ecosystem-based management. LMEs occupy areas of coastal ocean at least 200 000 km² or greater in size. These coastal waters produce 12.6 trillion USD in ecosystem goods and services annually and are vitally important for billions of people around the globe.Because LMEs are bounded by ocean features and are globally linked, management of human activities needs to occur in an integrated fashion across political boundaries and economic sectors (e.g. fishing, shipping, energy, tourism, and mining.) This represents a new type of management approached - shifting from single sector-based to multi-sector assessment and management within the spatial domain of the world's 66 Large Marine Ecosystems. There is global high-level support for this new approach and in this course, we will introduce the concepts and tools for assessing and managing LMEs.Together, leaders and experts in a global movement to recover and sustain the goods and services of LMEs will introduce you to the mechanisms used for assessment (Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis), planning and implementation (Strategic Action Programme). Based on recent activities in implementation and practice of the LME approach in 22 projects around the globe, we will showcase examples of effective management at this scale, and highlight the challenges and issues. By the end of the online course, we hope you will be able to actively use this knowledge to advance sustainable development of the world’s oceans.The course was created with the support and input of: the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), UNESCO-IOC and IW:LEARN.

Medicine and the Arts: Humanising Healthcare

4.9

This free online course will explore the intersection of medicine, medical anthropology and the creative arts. Through each of its six weeks, we’ll visit a new aspect of human life and consider it from the perspectives of people working in health sciences, social sciences and the arts.Explore the emerging field of medical humanitiesThe course will introduce you to the emerging field of medical humanities and the concept of whole person care, via these six themes:The Heart of the Matter: A Matter of the HeartChildren’s Voices and HealingMind, Art and PlayReproduction and InnovationAt the Edge: Madness and MedicineDeath and the CorpseTogether, we’ll question our propensity to separate the body from the mind in healthcare, consider what defines humanity, and share points of connection and difference between art and medicine.Learn with specialists from diverse fieldsContributors to the course will include a psychologist, psychiatrist, heart surgeon, pathologist, oncologist, sociologist, poet and visual artist. They will pose critical questions about how we deal with health, healing and being human.Each has been filmed on location in Cape Town, including at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, the Heart of Cape Town Museum, and the Pathology Learning Centre.Develop and discuss your own ideasThe course will encourage you to discuss your ideas with learners all over the world, and reflect on the ways in which bodies, health, social life, culture and the imagination intersect in your local setting. Together, we’ll ask:How is it that academic disciplines have become so rigid in their focus that they sometimes struggle to talk meaningfully to general audiences and other specialists?And what potential can we unlock by combining different fields of expertise and the silos of knowledge that otherwise separate them?By the end of the course, you’ll understand multiple, complex perspectives on health, illness and healing, and be able to create alternative responses to important health challenges.You can find out more in Susan Levine and Steve Reid’s post for the FutureLearn blog: “Introducing medical humanities: a new, interdisciplinary approach to healthcare.”This course is open to everyone. All that’s required is an interest in medicine, the arts or social sciences.

Organ Donation: From Death to Life

4.9

Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeConsidering someone for organ and tissue donation at the end of life is complicated. The boundary between life and death is more complex than ever before and it falls to medical professionals to help clarify a situation at an often confusing and emotionally stressful time. In this course you will learn about the science behind death determination and when it is possible for deceased organ donation take place. The lectures will cover medical standards at the end of life - from brain death testing, to requesting informed consent from a grieving family. By improving knowledge of good ethical practices, cultural and religious considerations and the logistics of the organ donation process this course will empower the interactions and discussions of medical professionals and the general public at an often confusing time. This course will help you to ensure that the option of organ donation is compassionately explored in all appropriate situations at the end of life in the best way possible.Watch the course trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak-kVtmZGRs The course is certified for continuing professional development (CPD) points in South Africa. Send your completion certificate to organdonation@uct.ac.za together with your HPCSA number for 25 general and 5 ethics points. For another interesting course on organ donation and transplantation, see Clinical Kidney, Pancreas and Islet Transplantation from Leiden University https://www.coursera.org/learn/clinical-kidney-transplantation

Capstone Course: Start Up Your Fintech Future

0

Class Central TipsLearn How to Sign up to Coursera courses for free1600+ Coursera Courses That Are Still Completely FreeThis is the final course in the Fintech Emerging Markets specialization. This course assumes you have completed the first three courses of this specialization. For this capstone project, you will need to prepare a business model canvas and pitch for your startup. This will involve identifying opportunities for a new service, product, or application, assessing the regulatory context and proposing appropriate fintech or non-fintech technologies. The three main parts of the business plan are to (i) the business challenge statement - identifying opportunities for new services and the customers (ii) a business model canvas, which will include a feasibility analysis that includes assessing the regulatory context, and (iii) presenting a video pitch which includes developing a pitch deck.