University of the People (UoPeople) is a non-profit institution of higher education. Founded by Israeli entrepreneur Shai Reshef in 2009, the university offers Undergraduate & Graduate School degrees and is nationally accredited and recognized by the United States Department of Education (U.S.DoED), Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC). It is also approved by California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE).
The university's stated mission is to open the gates to higher education and to give an opportunity to all qualified students who don't have it, regardless of financial, geographical, political, cultural or personal constraints. However, the alleged financial openness and the advertised "tuition-free" motto are debated due to the compulsory fees that students are required to pay, including the ones in developing countries.
Video University of the People
History
University of the People was launched by educational entrepreneur Shai Reshef in January 2009. The school has no campus or offices, and uses a PO box in California in order to qualify as American institution.
The first intake of UoPeople students began studying in September 2009, when 177 people from 49 countries across the globe comprised the inaugural class, studying for associate and bachelor's degrees in business administration and computer science.
In April 2014, the University celebrated the graduation of its first intake of bachelor's degree students, who came from the United States, Syria, Jordan and Nigeria.
In March 2016, the university began offering an online MBA, with the course itself beginning in September 2016. The course has an emphasis on business and community leadership, and is designed to provide graduates with skills needed to thrive in senior organizational roles. However, the MBA is not accredited by any business school accreditation bodies (e.g. AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS), and, just like the other degrees issued by UoPeople, does not have regional accreditation.
In May 2016, UoPeople announced associate and bachelor's degrees in Health Science, commencing September 2016.
Maps University of the People
Tuition
The University of the People bills itself as "tuition-free". Nevertheless, there are costs that a student must pay:
- Registration fee of $60 to register as a student at the University of the People
- Assessment fee of $100 for undergraduate assessments and $200 for graduate assessments for each exam a student takes
To complete an associate degree (A.S.), a student must take 20 exams and 40 exams for a bachelor's degree, which cost a total of $2,060 and $4,060 respectively. For the MBA, a student has to pay a $200 exam fee per course for a total of 12 courses, which brings the total cost for the MBA to $2460.
Students who cannot afford to pay may be eligible for scholarships.
Criticism
Critics say that advertising this business model as tuition-free is misleading, because replacing tuition with a series of compulsory fees forces students to pay tuition anyway (which, in this case, is called "fees" instead of "tuition"). Besides, if the school were actually tuition-free, there would be no need to advertise hypothetical scholarships to exempt a student from paying the fees.
Structure and organization
The university is led by a board of trustees and its President's Council. The university's operations are centered on its more than 6,000 volunteers, who fill roles at every level of the organization, from lecturers to administrative staff. These volunteers are supported by a small staff of salaried employees.
UoPeople President's Council offers guidance and support while promoting the university's mission on the international stage, and has gained widespread support from leading academics, none of which teaches any courses at UoPeople. The Council is chaired by New York University President Emeritus John Sexton, and includes:
- President of Duke University Richard H. Broadhead
- President of Boston University Robert Brown
- UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks
- Rector Emerita of the Academy of Paris Michèle Gendreau-Massaloux
- President Emerita of Vassar College Catharine Hill
- Director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT Bombay) Professor Devang Khakhar
- Vice-Chancellor Emeritus of Indira Gandhi National Open University Abdul Waheed Khan
- Oxford Vice-Chancellor Sir Colin Lucas
- President Emeritus of Rhode Island School of Design Roger Mandle
- Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Edinburgh Sir Tim O'Shea
- President Emerita at University of Saint Joseph Pamela Trotman Reid
- President Emeritus of Columbia University George Erik Rupp
- President Emerita of Barnard College Judith R. Shapiro
- President Emeritus of George Washington University Stephen Joel Trachtenberg
- President Emeritus of the Rockefeller University and Nobel Prize laureate Torsten N. Wiesel
UoPeople's Board of Trustees is chaired by Goldfarb Seligman & Co lawyer Ashok J.Chandrasekhar. Trustee members include:
- Utah Supreme Court Hon. Justice Christine M. Durham
- Hofstra University Law Professor Daniel J. H. Greenwood
- Professor of Finance and former Dean of INSEAD Dr. Gabriel Hawawini
- Chairman of Sinocare Group Mr. John Porter
- UoPeople President and founder Shai Reshef
University of the People uses instructor support combined with learning by teaching and peer-to-peer learning. The university also employs online discussion forums and online communities in order for students to cover readings, share resources, exchange ideas and discuss assigned questions. Scholars, professors, librarians, master level students and other professionals -- many of them acting on a voluntary basis -- oversee and participate in both the assessment process and the development of curricula.
UoPeople students also have access to the UoPeople Library & Resource Center (ULRC), a virtual environment delivered through the university course site. The Center's collections are primarily proprietary academic resources, but also include open educational resources.
Awards and recognition
In 2013, the International Student Identity Card (ISIC) Association and MasterCard Worldwide announced that University of People (UoPeople) was the winner of the 2013 ISIC Award for its "innovative approach to education access." In 2015, University of the People's President Shai Reshef was named Salt Magazine's "#8 Most Compassionate Businessman in the World." In 2016, Prince's Prize for Innovative Philanthropy has been awarded to president Shai Reshef of University of the People.
See also
- Cooperative learning
- Cooperative education
- Open educational resources
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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