S1 E4 | Opening Access to Higher Education Through Tuition-Free Degrees – with Shai Reshef

Todd Zipper, EVP and GM of Wiley University Services and Talent Development, welcomes Shai Reshef, President of University of the People. Todd and Shai discuss how University of the People provides tuition-free online education to qualified individuals regardless of geographic, financial, or societal constraints.  Topics Discussed: •Maximizing open-source technology and resources to increase access to affordable, quality education across the globe •Disrupting the industry with a low cost, tuition-free model powered by the support of 25,000 volunteers •Leveraging peer-to-peer learning and instructor supervision to achieve scale while maintaining course quality and a 14:1 learner to instructor ratio •Ensuring learner success through a unique admissions model and individual support throughout the learner’s journey •Collaborating with global universities to provide increased access and pathways to higher educationGuest BioShai Reshef is the President of University of the People, the world’s first non-profit, tuition-free, American, accredited online university, dedicated to opening access to higher education.An educational entrepreneur, Shai Reshef received a PhD from the Open University and has more than 30 years of experience in international education. From 1989 to 2005, he served as Chairman of the Kidum Group, a for-profit educational services company. Starting in 2001, Shai also chaired KIT eLearning, the online learning partner of the University of Liverpool and the first online university outside of the United States. Shai is a member of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration; being named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business; selected by OneWorld as one of its ‘People of 2009;’ awarded an Ashoka fellowship; joined UN-GAID as a High-level Adviser; presented at TED; granted an RSA Fellowship; selected by The Huffington Post as the Ultimate Game Changer in Education; nominated as one of Wired Magazine’s 50 People Changing the World; and selected as a Top Global Thinker by Foreign Policy Magazine. Recently, he was awarded the Prince’s Prize for Innovative Philanthropy by Prince Albert II of Monaco.