An brief overview of the work accomplished and accolades attained by University of the People.

1. UNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE
“If I did not know of UoPeople, I’m sure I would still be like the majority…Jobless and forced to fight daily to
survive, with an uncertain future. Now with UoPeople, I know that I have a lot of chances to become what I
have wished to become: A man well educated and able to reach his goals.”
– Gardy, UoPeople student from Haiti, 2010 Earthquake Survivor
University of the People (UoPeople; www.UoPeople.org) is the world’s first tuition-free,
nonprofit, online academic institution dedicated to the global advancement of higher education.
UoPeople works to democratize higher education by offering universal access to collegiate-level
studies to qualified high school graduates, despite financial, geographic, or social constraints. It
opens opportunities never before available to men and women who want to advance their lives –
anywhere in the world.
High-quality, low-cost and worldwide, UoPeople’s pedagogical model draws on the principles of e-
learning and social networking, coupled with open-source technology and open educational
resources (OER). Over 2,000 volunteers have offered to help the University. Those selected as
instructors and course developers receive modest honoraria.
UoPeople offers two undergraduate programs: Business Administration and Computer Science.
Students pay only a one-time application processing fee ($10-$50) and subsequent modest
examination processing fees ($10-$100).
Classes commenced at UoPeople on September 10, 2009. Currently, more than 1,100 students
from over 115 countries have been accepted. UoPeople also has close to 500,000 Facebook fans.
UoPeople’s scholastic leadership includes seasoned professionals from Columbia University, NYU,
Emory, Rutgers, Yale, Harvard, INSEAD, and Brigham Young.
The University is affiliated with the United Nations GAID, the Clinton Global Initiative, and
the Yale Law School ISP. Recently, UoPeople signed collaborative partnership agreements with
New York University (NYU) to accept transfer students; and with Hewlett Packard (HP) to
provide student internship opportunities.
Press coverage worldwide includes over 1,000 articles favorably mentioning UoPeople, including
The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Mashable, The Chronicle of Higher Education
and more. In addition, UoPeople’s President, Shai Reshef, has received numerous awards on
behalf of UoPeople including being one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business;
designated as an Ashoka Fellow; and chosen by 3 million Huffington Post Readers as “The
Ultimate Game Changer in Education.”
UoPeople’s remarkable success in less than three years highlights the global need for affordable
education, the potential of a tuition-free academic institution, and the power of open educational
resources. UoPeople is building a scalable model which promises to revolutionize higher education
with the ability to impact hundreds of thousands of individuals.
UoPeople is the brainchild of entrepreneur Shai Reshef, who has worked in international education
for over 20 years. The University was funded by an initial backing of $3 million (US) of Reshef’s
own money. At 10,000 students the University will be self-sustainable, with $8 million (US)
needed to reach this point. UoPeople is currently seeking donations to reach self-sustainability.