Prime Highlights
- Westlake University launches a free online NLP course for learners worldwide.
- The program covers both introductory NLP concepts and advanced AI topics like language models and deep learning.
Key Facts
- The course includes 15 lectures recorded in Spring 2025 and is released online gradually.
- Additional resources include an updated textbook and a planned online platform for student collaboration.
Background-
Westlake University has launched a free online course on Natural Language Processing (NLP), providing students and technology enthusiasts around the world a chance to explore artificial intelligence.
The course is led by Professor Yue Zhang from the School of Engineering. It shows how computers can read and work with human language, a technology that powers chatbots, translation tools, and search engines.
The program consists of 15 lectures, recorded during the Spring 2025 semester. The lessons are being shared online little by little, so students can learn at their own speed.
The program starts with an introduction to the history of NLP and its main concepts, which make it simpler for beginners to follow. Later sessions move into more detailed topics, including modern language models and deep learning methods used in today’s AI systems.
Westlake University said the initiative aims to make highquality AI education accessible to a wider audience. By making the course free online, Westlake University aims to help students, researchers, and developers who want to gain skills in the fast-growing field of artificial intelligence.
In addition to the lectures, the course will include extra learning materials, such as an updated textbook. The university also plans to introduce an online platform where students can explore the content and work together.
The launch comes at a time when interest in AI education is rising worldwide, as more companies and institutions look for experts in language technology and machine learning.
