University of the People (UoPeople) is the world’s first tuition-free, online academic institution dedicated to the global advancement and democratization of higher education. The high-quality, low-cost and global pedagogical model embraces the worldwide presence of the Internet and dropping technology costs to bring collegiate level studies to even the poorest and most remote places on earth. With the support of respected academics, humanitarians and other visionaries, the UoPeople student body represents a new wave in global education.
How it works: The student community will be divided into sub-groups of 15-20 students, all participating in the same online course. Students will be expected to review the assigned study materials, mark down questions or issues which weren’t clear and note any difficult exercises. Each student will be assigned a “study buddy” with whom to confer and clarify issues which seemed unclear.
Each student will maintain an online portfolio containing a photograph, a short biography, and all the exercises, papers, projects, and quizzes given as assignments for the course. Students will be expected to devote at least eight hours per week to studying, reading lectures, writing exercises and assignments and posting to their online open forums.
University of the People Programs: Presently only Business Administration and Computer Science.
Other Frequently Asked Questions about University of the People: FAQ.
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Haaretz: Israeli founds world’s first tuition-free online university.
UPI: U.N. announces first free e-university.
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Hi It’s is nice blog.
Thanks for this post – I just took a look at the UoPeople website and it looks like a really great initiative. Let’s hope it will provide an education to many, many people who otherwise would have been deprived of the chance to grow in this way. We also hope our Open Access literature will do a positive thing in making knowledge available for everyone, for free.
University of the People is a wonderful concept, but its implementation leaves much to be desired. I know this first-hand–I am currently enrolled at the university. There are many problems with the de facto learning experience at the university:
1. No enforcement of the Academic Honesty and Integrity policy. Plagiarism is covered in the first two required courses at the university, yet it is the rule rather than the exception in the discussion forums. It is also commonplace in assignments that require explanations (e.g. non-computational questions/problems). In fact, plagiarism is so prevalent that if one brings up the fact that a fellow student’s submission is completely cut-and-pasted from Wikipedia, he is likely to be told that “this is the way we do it in all our classes.”
2. Flawed assessment model. Courses consist of discussion forums, learning journals, quizzes, assignments, and a final. The final, usually a multiple choice test of 5-10 problems to be completed in one hour (and usually completed in 20 minutes), is worth 40% of the student’s grade. At no other university I have attended did any course place so much weight on an exam that did not challenge the student nor represent the material covered throughout the quarter. The discussion forums are of questionable worth for the reasons stated above. On top of these issues, the lowest one or two scores is dropped from among the graded areas (DFs, assignments, etc.), allowing a student to forgo 1/9 to 2/9 (or more) of a quarter’s worth of work (excluding the final) and suffer no penalty. Such non-participation would likely reduce a student’s grade by one or two letters at a real university. This is related to the courses’ inadequate and un-enforced Participation policy.
3. Lack of uniformity in grading. Peer assessment is part of the learning model. Unfortunately, you are just as likely to have a student who himself does not understand the material grading your assignment (this makes a huge difference, even though solutions are provided) as you are another student whose assignment received a 20 and is now out for blood. This is also a problem in the discussion forums.
I want the university to succeed, but more than that I want a degree from this university that actually means something. As I note the lack of quality in my fellow student’s work, the lack of effort put into plagiarized posts and assignments that will, regardless, likely get an A, I find it hard to believe that even 30% of UoP’s students could cut it in a real university. I don’t see how, with things the way they are now, University of the People could possibly become accredited. Sad thing is, there are UoP students that are now more than half-way done with their four-year degree who have no notion of what an actual education is and who would probably flunk out of their first year at any two-year college.
I can only hope that someone at UoP wakes up and appreciates the sad state of its affairs, the joke that UoP, in practice, has become and decides to do something about it.
For the information from the UoPeople website, I found that the UoPeople provides the wonderful education about doing the positive thing in waking knowledge available for everyone. Many peoples who just learn in this University are provided the chance of growing their interectuelcapacity,in this way of Distance Learning by facilitating ones who have not enough economy, when they need to grow or to have the knowledge or capacity for developing our world.
The learning model of UoPeople students it is nicely because many peoples who stood in this university, have plenty of possibilities for living and governing society because they know how to do.
I only hope anyone who had the initiative for existence of UoPeople and appreciated the sad state of its affairs, and decided to do something about it.
Sorry for S.F. character up there. It did not work for you!
I researched this concept in depth and analyzed every possible avenue. My comment is THANK HEAVEN THERE IS STILL PEOPLE AROUND LIKE THE FOUNDER OF UOP. Creating and delivering happiness. A billionaire who thought of how he would share his wealth with the less privilege people because of hard economic realities. He took a big step to reach out and to lend a hand. Thanks a million.
I find the UOP website very simple and easy to use. Thoughts for the students benefit has been implemented while building the site.
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