URBANA – The University of Illinois will offer seven free online classes this fall through an online education company founded by two Stanford University professors, the company announced Tuesday.

The Urbana-Champaign campus will join Princeton, Stanford, the University of Michigan and other schools that have already partnered with Coursera to offer online classes.

Chancellor Phyllis Wise said Illinois is the only land-grant university on the list, which gives it expertise that other schools lack. A faculty committee helped consider the legal and academic issues involved in the agreement, Wise said.