Chartered in West Virginia in 2010, the University of the World grows out of a 20 year-old project launched by UNICEF in 1992 to evolve a better understanding of how to promote civic engagement to scale, promoting both a rising qualitative and quantitative expansion in civic well-being. That such could effectively be done was established through the now accredited Future Generations Graduate School. A number of peer-reviewed publications and books have resulted. The University seeks to extend to greater global accessibility this initially-launched UNICEF charge.
This innovative model grows out of proven educational demonstrations and years of planning. Building from a concern that only 15% of humanity worldwide can attend formal learning beyond high school, the University of the World expands access to higher education. Recognizing also that training for employment is a rising priority in degree-granting institutions, the university provides skill-based learning.
By positioning learning in NGOs, trade unions, civic groups, and the like, the University of the World reaches into communities and creates a growing world-encompassing real campus from these bases. Removing the expenses of a physical campus and eliminating the need for students to leave their jobs, homes, families, and community in order to attend college brings down the cost of earning a degree in addition to making it more attainable for many.
The University of the World is changing the place of learning as well as the content, building on theory-based subjects to give the life-enhancing instruction in life skills. In doing this, theory is enhanced by practice; knowledge is not being abandoned but being applied. The role of professors is moved to partnerships with students in a manner that enhances academic rigor – they are no longer being expected to teach then grade themselves (indirectly) by the grades they give to their students.
Students who wish to apply to the University of the World will develop a Learning Plan specifying the skills that they seek to develop within one of the five degree options:
| Degree | Education Leadership | Family Agriculture | Local Entrepreneurship & Innovation |
Home-Centered Health |
Local-to-Global Connectivity |
| Purpose & Benefit | Opening access to education | Food Security | Income generation Savings Micro-credit Cooperatives |
Improved maternal and child health, sanitation, and life behaviors | Inclusiveness of ethnicity, gender, income, and religion |
| Long Term Value: Empowering economic and environmental stability | |||||
Upon acceptance to the program, students participate in an orientation to prepare them for this new style of learning.
An important feature of the university’s approach is the continuing refinement of decisions based on feedback. The university will spend seven years growing its pedagogy and policies. These are also the seven years needed to move from authorization to grant degrees to full accreditation. Experiments will be set up during this period to test alternate options.