Shai Reshef

Shai Reshef
Born	September 11, 1955 (1955-09-11) (age 61)
Residence	Pasadena, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Michigan (MA)
Occupation	Entrepreneur
Known for	Founder & President, University of the People

Shai Reshef born September 11, 1955 is an educational entrepreneur, founder and president of University of the People, the world's first non-profit, tuition-free, accredited online university.^[1] His TED Talk, entitled "An ultra-low-cost college degree", has been viewed more than 4 million times.^[2]

Biography

Reshef earned an MA in Chinese Politics from the University of Michigan.^[3] From 1989 to 2005, Reshef served as Chief Executive Officer and then Chairman of the Kidum Group, a for-profit educational services and test preparation company.^[4] Reshef joined Kidum in 1989 when it was a single product company with revenues of $100,000. Under his leadership, Kidum grew to become a company with annual revenues in excess of $25 million, with over 1,000 employees and 50,000 students a year. In 2005, he sold the company to Kaplan, Inc., one of the world’s largest education companies and a subsidiary of the Washington Post.^[5]

Between 2001 and 2004, while continuing as the chairman of Kidum, Reshef lived in the Netherlands where he chaired KIT eLearning, a subsidiary of Kidum. KIT became the eLearning partner of the University of Liverpool in 1999, and was the first online university outside of the United States, providing MBA and M.Sc. degrees in Information Technology. In 2004, the company was acquired by Laureate Education, Inc. and changed its name to Laureate Online Education. It maintains its partnership with the University of Liverpool under its new name.^[6]

Reshef is married and has four children. He lives in Pasadena, California.^[4]

University of the People

In January 2009, Reshef founded University of the People (UoPeople), a non-profit, accredited online academic institution that seeks to increase the availability of higher education by offering tuition-free degrees.^[7] The university has a stated mission of breaking down the barriers to entry in higher education. It offers qualified students all over the world who have been adversely impacted by conflict, socioeconomic obstacles or even health challenges a chance to obtain a quality degree.^[8]

UoPeople offers associate and bachelor's degrees in business administration, computer science and health science,^[9] as well as an MBA launched in 2016.^[10] As of March 2017, the University has admitted over 6,000 students from more than 190 countries.^[11]

The university believes that access to higher education is a key ingredient in the promotion of world peace and global economic development.^[12] It views higher education as a basic right, and believes that it can both transform the lives of individuals and be an important force for societal change. UoPeople believes that education plays a fundamental role in strengthening respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and in promoting understanding and tolerance.^[13]

UoPeople has won wide acclaim, with support from organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,^[14] Hewlett Packard^[15] and the Clinton Global Initiative.^[16] It also has various partnerships with Yale,^[17] New York University^[18] and University of California, Berkeley.^[19]

Awards and recognition

• In 2009, named one of Fast Company magazine’s “100 Most Creative People in Business"
• In 2009, selected by OneWorld as one of its “People of 2009”^[20]
• In 2010, awarded a fellowship by Ashoka^[21]
• In 2010, became a high-level adviser to the United Nations Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (GAID) ^[22]
• In 2010, rang the closing bell at the Nasdaq in New York City^[23]
• In 2010, granted membership to the Clinton Global Initiative on behalf of his work with UoPeople in Haiti^[24]
• In 2010, selected as the Huffington Post "Ultimate Game Changer in Education."^[25]
• In 2011, granted membership to Partners for a New Beginning (PNB)^[26]
• In 2012, named one of the "50 People Changing the World" by Wired Magazine's Smart List 2012^[27]
• In 2012, named as a "Top Global Thinker" by Foreign Policy Magazine's Top 100 Global Thinkers 2012^[28]
• In 2014, invited to present a TED Talk on University of the People ^[2]
• In 2015, placed eighth on Salt Magazine's "100 Most Compassionate Business Leaders List"^[29]
• In 2016, awarded the Prince’s Prize for Innovative Philanthropy by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation ^[30]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shai Reshef.

• Profile at University of the People
• Shai Reshef at Ted
• Shai Reshef TED Talk
• Shai Reshef at Inside Higher Ed
• Shai Reshef at New York Times