Coursera just made it a lot easier for people in China to pay for courses

Coursera, the American online education startup, already has a significant following. In fact, last month the company announced that it has a million registered users in China, making the Middle Kingdom its second biggest market. Today, Coursera has announced that those million users can now use Alipay.

Previously, Chinese users could take classes for free, but to get a verified certificate of course completion, they needed access to an international credit card like Visa or MasterCard. Very few Chinese people have international cards, so Coursera was probably missing out on quite a bit of revenue. We’ve learned that many of our Chinese learners wish to earn Verified Certificates, which has been challenging due to payment constraints,” said Coursera’s CEO Rick Levin in a statement. “Thanks to an integration with Alipay, all learners can now purchase certificates and share their accomplishments publicly, with employers and friends.”

Alipay is one of China’s largest epayment options, with more than 400 million registered users. It’s a safe bet that most Chinese web users savvy enough to be studying online on a foreign-owned site like Coursera already have Alipay accounts. Coursera hasn’t disclosed how much of a revenue boost it expects to get from the addition of Alipay support, but it may be substantial.

Coursera currently offers more than 150 courses in Chinese or with Chinese subtitles, including many from prominent Chinese universities.