University of the People offers free education to a global audience A new report from the BBC highlights the University of the People, a tuition-free, degree-granting online college founded by Israeli entrepreneur Shai Reshef. Reshef says his purpose is to “disrupt the current education system” and deliver higher education to millions to whom it would otherwise be unattainable. UoPeople currently offers just 2 degrees—business administration and computer science—but makes education available and affordable to hundreds of students in nearly 150 countries. Students need a basic Internet connection, but otherwise classes are surprisingly low-tech: there is no audio or video content, meaning that broadband is not required. Costs stay low because there are no brick-and-mortar sites to operate, nor are there textbooks to purchase. Professors—approximately 3,000 of them—volunteer their time as lecturers. Students gather in 20–30-person virtual classrooms and chat with one another online. The organization recently teamed with Microsoft to provide instruction to 1,000 students in Africa, and is working with Nigeria to provide scholarships to potential students. BBC
Posted on: Tue, 13 May 2014 13:15:53 +0000
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