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I would like to share with you
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a new model of higher education,
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a model that, once expanded,
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can enhance the collective intelligence
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of millions of creative and motivated individuals
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that otherwise would be left behind.
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Look at the world.
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Pick up a place and focus on it.
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You will find humans chasing higher education.
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Let's meet some of them.
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Patrick.
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Patrick was born in Liberia
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to a family of 20 children.
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During the civil war, he and his family were forced
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to flee to Nigeria.
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There, in spite of his situation,
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he graduated high school with nearly perfect grades.
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He wanted to continue to higher education,
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but due to his family
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living on the poverty line,
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he was soon sent to South Africa
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to work and send back money
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to feed his family.
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Patrick never gave up his dream of higher education.
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Late at night, after work,
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he surfed the Net looking for ways to study.
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Meet Debbie.
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Debbie is from Florida.
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Her parents didn't go to college,
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and neither did any of her siblings.
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Debbie has worked all her life,
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pays taxes, supports herself month to month,
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proud of the American dream,
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a dream that just won't be complete
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without higher education.
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But Debbie doesn't have the savings
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for higher education.
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She can't pay the tuition.
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Neither could she leave work.
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Meet Wael.
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Wael is from Syria.
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He's firsthand experiencing
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the misery, fear and failure
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imposed on his country.
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He's a big believer in education.
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He knew that if he would find an opportunity
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for higher education,
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an opportunity to get ahead of the rest,
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he has a better chance to survive
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in a world turned upside down.
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The higher education system
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failed Patrick, Debbie and Wael,
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exactly as it is failing
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millions of potential students,
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millions that graduate high school,
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millions that are qualified for higher education,
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millions that want to study
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yet cannot access for various reasons.
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First, financial.
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Universities are expensive. We all know it.
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In large parts of the world,
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higher education is unattainable
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for an average citizen.
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This is probably the biggest problem
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facing our society.
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Higher education stopped being a right for all
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and became a privilege for the few.
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Second, cultural.
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Students who are qualified for higher education,
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can afford, want to study, cannot
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because it is not decent,
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it is not a place for a woman.
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This is the story of countless women
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in Africa, for example,
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prevented from higher education
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because of cultural barriers.
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And here comes the third reason:
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UNESCO stated that in 2025,
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100 million students
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will be deprived from higher education
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simply because there will not be enough seats
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to accommodate them, to meet the demand.
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They will take a placement test,
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they will pass it,
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but they still won't have access
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because there are no places available.
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These are the reasons
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I founded University of the People,
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a nonprofit, tuition-free,
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degree-granting university
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to give an alternative,
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to create an alternative to those who have no other,
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an alternative that will be affordable
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and scalable,
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an alternative that will disrupt
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the current education system,
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open the gates to higher education
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for every qualified student
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regardless of what they earn, where they live,
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or what society says about them.
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Patrick, Debbie and Wael
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are only three examples
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out of the 1,700 accepted students
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from 143 countries.
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We — (Applause) — Thank you.
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We didn't need to reinvent the wheel.
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We just looked at what wasn't working
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and used the amazing power of the Internet
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to get around it.
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We set out to build a model
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that will cut down almost entirely
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the cost of higher education,
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and that's how we did it.
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First, bricks and mortar cost money.
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Universities have expenses
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that virtual universities don't.
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We don't need to pass these expenses
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onto our students.
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They don't exist.
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We also don't need to worry about capacity.
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There are no limits of seats
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in virtual university.
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Actually, nobody needs to stand
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at the back of the lecture hall.
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Textbooks is also something
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our students don't need to buy.
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By using open educational resources
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and the generosity of professors
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who are putting their material
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free and accessible,
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we don't need to send our students to buy textbooks.
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All of our materials come free.
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Even professors,
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the most expensive line in
any university balance sheet,
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come free to our students,
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over 3,000 of them,
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including presidents, vice chancellors,
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professors and academic advisors
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from top universities such as NYU,
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Yale, Berkeley and Oxford,
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came on board to help our students.
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Finally, it's our belief in peer-to-peer learning.
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We use this sound pedagogical model
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to encourage our students from all over the world
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to interact and study together
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and also to reduce the time
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our professors need to labor over class assignments.
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If the Internet has made us a global village,
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this model can develop its future leadership.
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Look how we do it.
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We only offer two programs:
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business administration and computer science,
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the two programs
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that are most in demand worldwide,
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the two programs that are likeliest
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to help our students find a job.
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When our students are accepted,
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they are placed in a small classroom
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of 20 to 30 students to ensure
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that those who need personalized attention get it.
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Moreover, for every nine weeks' course,
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they meet a new peer,
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a whole new set of students
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from all over the world.
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Every week, when they go into the classroom,
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they find the lecture notes of the week,
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the reading assignment, the homework assignment,
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and the discussion question,
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which is the core of our studies.
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Every week, every student
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must contribute to the class discussion
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and also must comment
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on the contribution of others.
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This way, we open our students' minds,
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we develop a positive shift in attitude
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toward different cultures.
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By the end of each week,
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the students take a quiz,
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hand in their homework,
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which are assessed by their peers
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under the supervision of the instructors,
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get a grade, move to the next week.
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By the end of the course, they take the final exam,
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get a grade, and follow to the next course.
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We opened the gates for higher education
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for every qualified student.
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Every student with a high school diploma,
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sufficient English and Internet connection
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can study with us.
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We don't use audio. We don't use video.
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Broadband is not necessary.
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Any student from any part of the world
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with any Internet connection
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can study with us.
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We are tuition-free.
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All we ask our students to cover
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is the cost of their exams,
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100 dollars per exam.
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A full-time bachelor degree student
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taking 40 courses,
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will pay 1,000 dollars a year,
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4,000 dollars for the entire degree,
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and for those who cannot afford even this,
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we offer them a variety of scholarships.
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It is our mission that nobody will be left behind
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for financial reasons.
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With 5,000 students in 2016,
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this model is financially sustainable.
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Five years ago, it was a vision.
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Today, it is a reality.
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Last month, we got the ultimate
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academic endorsement to our model.
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University of the People is now fully accredited.
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(Applause)
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Thank you.
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With this accreditation,
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it's our time now to scale up.
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We have demonstrated that our model works.
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I invite universities and, even more important,
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developing countries' governments,
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to replicate this model
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to ensure that the gates of higher education
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will open widely.
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A new era is coming,
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an era that will witness
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the disruption of the higher education model
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as we know it today,
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from being a privilege for the few
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to becoming a basic right,
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affordable and accessible for all.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 4/3/2017.