The National University of Singapore will be the first university in Singapore to offer free online courses in partnership with Coursera, a leading massive open online course website.

For a start it will offer two courses - "Unpredictable? Randomness, Chance and Free Will" and "Write Like Mozart: An Introduction to Classical Music Composition".

Both will start in January next year, and will run for eight and six weeks respectively. Each session will last from one and a half to three hours, NUS said on Thursday.

The courses will be taught by Professor Valerio Scarani from the Centre for Quantum Technologies and Associate Professor Peter Ivan Edwards from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music.

NUS is among 29 universities from 13 countries - such as Northwestern University and Rutgers University - which have inked new agreements to offer courses using Coursera's platform, according to a Coursera statement issued on Thursday.

The new agreements will bring Coursera's university partnerships to more than 60.

The online education company, founded by two computer professors from Stanford University, has an enrolment of more than 2 million.