BEIJING — The first batch of 490 national quality courses are available online for the public, according to an educational official on Jan 15.

The courses focus on common curriculum for undergraduate education and higher vocational education, professional basic courses, and professional core courses, said Wu Yan, head of the Department of Higher Education with the Ministry of Education, at a news conference.

About 70 percent of the 490 courses are provided by China’s first-class universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Wuhan University.

In recent years, online education has become increasingly known to Chinese, particularly after MOOC, massive open online courses, entered China in cooperation with universities and websites.

According to figures by the ministry, domestic universities and higher educational institutions have set up more than 10 MOOC websites, covering over 3,200 courses. Some 55 million college students or social learners have viewed the courses. Another 3,000 national-level excellent online courses will be produced by 2020.