University of the People (UoPeople) is a non-profit, tuition-free, presently unaccredited online academic institution headquartered in Pasadena, California and founded by entrepreneur Shai Reshef in January 2009.
All lecture and study sessions are delivered entirely from a secure website on the Internet. The non-profit organization provides access to online, post-secondary education to qualified students in a tuition-free model in order for students to overcome geographic or financial limitations and acquire higher learning.
The non-profit institution places a special focus on assisting students from developing countries and uses technologies that can be accessed globally. This includes an exclusion of audio and video in its learning modules to ensure broadband is not a requirement for the University’s students to access materials.
UoPeople’s pedagogical model draws on the principles of e-learning, social networking, and collaborative learning, coupled with open-source technology and open educational resources. Combined, these make up the elements which provide the ability for the non-profit organization to scale and operate at low-cost; thus keeping the cost of programs affordable for the University’s large percentage of disadvantaged students comprising its student body.
The University operates on a not-for-profit basis and does not charge for course registration, instruction, books, teachers or annual enrollment. Instead, the University utilizes a fee-for-processing model in which applications and end-of-course examinations are charged nominal and variable fees set by place of residence, with residents of places deemed to be lower-income economies charged less than their more-affluent counterparts. The difference in funding is made up by University grants.
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