About UoPeople University of the People (UoPeople) isthe first non-profit, tuition-free, accredited online university. Dedicated to opening access to higher education globally, UoPeople is designed to help qualified high school graduates overcome financial, geographic, social, and personal constraints keeping them from collegiate studies. The university currently offers two-year Associate’s and four-year Bachelor degree programs in Business Administration Computer Science, and Health Science as well as an MBA program.

UoPeople believes that access to higher education can promote world peace and global economic development. As a basic right, higher education can transform the lives, not only of individuals but eventually the entire world. UoPeople is an essential part of avoiding such a tragic missed opportunity for would-be students.

 

UoPeople opened its gates in 2009, was accredited in February 2014, and enrolls more than 3,500 students from over 180 countries. The university is led by President Shai Reshef, an education entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience, and by distinguished international boards of trustees and advisors. University leadership includes esteemed academics from Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, Yale and more. UoPeople's President’s Council is chaired by NYU President Emeritus John Sexton and includes Vice-Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Oxford Sir Colin Lucas, Former U.S. Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter, UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, and Nobel Laureate Torsten N. Wiesel among others. UoPeople has academic partnerships with Berkeley, in which UoPeople associate degree holders are eligible to continue their studies toward a bachelor degree; NYU, to accept students; and with Yale Law School ISP, for research. UoPeople is also affiliated with the UN, UNESCO, the Clinton Global Initiative and Ashoka, among others.

UoPeople's corporate partners include Microsoft, which sponsors scholarships for African students including all costs towards their studies, internships, mentoring and job opportunities; and Hewlett Packard (HP) which sponsors a women's scholarship and mentoring program. UoPeople is supported by several foundations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation and more. UoPeople has received the support of more than 1.2 Million people on Facebook and has been covered by media worldwide, including the New York Times, BBC, NPR, Times Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and TED.

 

UoPeople is able to offer tuition-free education because of its use of volunteers, Open Educational Resources, Open Source Technology and peer-to-peer learning. More than 5,000 professionals have volunteered for the University, filling key UoPeople leadership positions including University President, Provost, Academic Deans, Course Developers, Academic Advisers and Course Instructors. Students are only asked to pay a $100 exam processing fee at the end of each course; for students who might find even these modest fees prohibitive, the University offers a variety of scholarships. The exam fees, whether paid directly or through a scholarship, ensure that the University has a stream of revenue that will make it sustainable upon reaching 4,000 students, a milestone it expects to reach in late 2016. Generous contributions have enabled the growth of the University to date; UoPeople continues to look for individual, corporate and foundation partners to assist in providing the remaining $1.5 million needed for the University to reach financial sustainability.