Traditional Higher Ed Opens Doors for Tuition-Free Online University de Mashable parla de la relació amb la New York University i altres idees rellevants. Les universitats no presencials (americanes) no acaben de tenir gaire reputació, perquè semblen proporcionar títols amb un baix nivell de coneixements i una forma relativament fàcil d’obtenir-los. Però ara la Uniersity of the People vol canviar això.
La University of the People http://www.uopeople.org/ és una forma gratuïta de proporcionar educació superior, i ara el seus estudiants són acceptats via “transfer” a la NYU, que és un reconeixement de facto de la seva qualitat.
La missió de la UOPeople fa referència quatre conceptes: Oportunitat, comunitat, integritat i qualitat. Del post de Mashable:
Online universities have earned a reputation among traditional higher education institutions as businesses that offer low-quality degrees in exchange for hefty debt. But online University of the People challenges the stereotype.
The University is completely tuition free. Its mission is not to turn a profit, but rather to create a truly global opportunity for education. A thousand students who live in 115 different countries are taught by members of the university’s core of 2,000 volunteers. Traditional universities are starting to open their doors to People’s free, nontraditional counterpart.
In May, New York University announced it would accept students from University of the People at its Abu Dhabi campus. On Tuesday, HP invited the free university’s students to become virtual interns with its Catalyst Initiative — a global consortia of 56 organizations, most of them universities, that focuses on projects related to improving STEM education.
Ara per ara, hi ha dos graus (al menys tutoritzats per Hewlett-Packard): business administration i computer science. és clar que, de moment, la iniciativa té lloc sobretot a Abu Dhabi, encara que la UOPeople és present pertot arreu.
És interessant veure què diu el web de la University of the People:
University of the People (UoPeople) is the world’s first tuition-free online university dedicated to the global advancement and democratization of higher education.
The University embraces the worldwide presence of the Internet and dropping technology costs to bring tuition-free academic programs within reach to millions of people around the world.
With the support of academic leadership from top universities and a student body comprised of students from over 115 countries, UoPeople has become a tuition-free higher education global leader.