The Mormon church is giving a name and appointing a leader for a worldwide online college education program that has expanded to nearly 50 countries since it started several years ago at Brigham Young University-Idaho.
High-ranking church leader Dieter Uchtdorf announced the formal launch of the program Monday at a news conference in Salt Lake City. He says Clark Gilbert will oversee a program called BYU-Pathway Worldwide. Gilbert is currently the president at BYU-Idaho.
The courses combine academic and religious education, designed to give members low-cost and non-traditional opportunities to earn higher education degrees. All courses are in English.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says about 57,000 students have participated since 2009.
More than half of the religion's 15.6 million members live in countries outside the United States.
