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我想和各位分享一種全新的高等教育模式,一旦這種模式普及,能提升數百萬具有創意及上進心者的集體智慧;反之,他們將失去獲得教育的機會。看看這個世界,任選一個地方著眼觀察,你會發現人們不遺餘力地追求高等教育,讓我們來認識其中一些人。
PatrickPatrick出生於賴比瑞亞一個有20個孩子的家庭,內戰期間他和家人們被迫逃往奈及利亞,儘管面臨這種處境,他仍以幾乎滿分的成績從高中畢業。他想繼續接受高等教育,但由於家境困難,他不久後被送往南非工作,賺錢補貼家計。Patrick從未放棄接受高等教育的夢想,結束工作後的深夜裡,他上網搜尋學習知識的途徑。
來認識一下DebbieDebbie,來自佛羅里達。她的父母不曾上過大學,她的兄弟姐妹也一樣。Debbie的生活就是工作、繳稅、維持自己每月生活所需、以美國夢為榮。若無法接受高等教育,這個夢想就不會完整。但Debbie沒有足以負擔高等教育的積蓄,她付不起學費,她也不能放棄工作。
來認識一下WaelWael,來自敘利亞。他親身經歷自己國家遭受的痛苦、恐懼和失敗,他是教育的忠實信徒,他知道如果能找到接受高等教育的機會,一個超過別人的機會,他就更有機會在一個天翻地覆的世界裡生存下來。
高等教育體系辜負了Patrick、Debbie和Wael,正如它辜負了數百萬潛在的學生,數百萬高中畢業生,數百萬有資格接受高等教育的學生,數百萬渴望學習、卻由於各種因素無法獲得學習機會的人。
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I would like to share with you a new model of higher education, a model that, once expanded, can enhance the collective intelligence of millions of creative and motivated individuals that otherwise would be left behind. Look at the world. Pick up a place and focus on it. You will find humans chasing higher education. Let's meet some of them.
Patrick. Patrick was born in Liberia to a family of 20 children. During the civil war, he and his family were forced to flee to Nigeria. There, in spite of his situation, he graduated high school with nearly perfect grades. He wanted to continue to higher education, but due to his family living on the poverty line, he was soon sent to South Africa to work and send back money to feed his family. Patrick never gave up his dream of higher education. Late at night, after work, he surfed the Net looking for ways to study.
Meet Debbie. Debbie is from Florida. Her parents didn't go to college, and neither did any of her siblings. Debbie has worked all her life, pays taxes, supports herself month to month, proud of the American dream, a dream that just won't be complete without higher education. But Debbie doesn't have the savings for higher education. She can't pay the tuition. Neither could she leave work.
Meet Wael. Wael is from Syria. He's firsthand experiencing the misery, fear and failure imposed on his country. He's a big believer in education. He knew that if he would find an opportunity for higher education, an opportunity to get ahead of the rest, he has a better chance to survive in a world turned upside down.
The higher education system failed Patrick, Debbie and Wael, exactly as it is failing millions of potential students, millions that graduate high school, millions that are qualified for higher education, millions that want to study yet cannot access for various reasons.
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首先是經濟因素。大學學費相當昂貴,我們都知道這一點。世上大多數地方高等教育對一般民眾來說可望而不可及,這或許是我們社會面臨的最大問題。接受高等教育不再是所有人的權力,而是成為少數人的特權。
第二,文化因素。有資格接受高等教育、有能力負擔、渴望學習的學生無法獲得受教機會,因為這是不合宜的,學校並非女性可以去的地方。例如非洲,無數女性由於文化壁壘而無法獲得高等教育。
第三個因素是:UNESCO(聯合國教科文組織)宣稱,到了2025年,將有1億名學生被剝奪獲得高等教育的機會,只因為沒有足夠座位能容納他們,滿足接受教育的需求。他們將參加程度測驗,即使他們通過測驗,仍無法獲得受教機會,因為沒有接受教育的場所。
鑒於這些原因,我創辦了全民大學,一所非盈利性、免學費、可授予學位的大學,提供了另一種選擇,為那些沒有其它選擇的人創造了一種選擇。一種價格合理、具普及性的選擇,一種顛覆現行教育體系的選擇,為每一位符合資格的學生開啟高等教育大門,無論他們收入多少、身處何方或社會如何看待他們。Patrick、Debbie和Wael只是來自143個國家1700名被錄取的學生中的三個例子,我們-(掌聲)-謝謝。
我們不需要重複他人的腳步,我們只需要觀察不足之處,利用網路的神奇力量來解決問題。我們著手建立一種模式,它將削減高等教育絕大部分成本,我們的做法如下。首先,實體建築需要花錢,一般大學有許多開銷是虛擬大學不需負擔的,我們不需要將這些開銷轉嫁到學生身上,這些開銷並不存在。我們也不需要擔心可容納人數,虛擬大學中沒有座位的限制,事實上沒人需要站在講台後方。我們的學生也不需要購買課本,藉由開放式教育資源及教授們的慷慨分享,他們將私有教材免費公開分享。我們的學生不需要購買課本,我們所有的教材都是免費的。甚至是教授,任何大學收支表上最昂貴的一項支出,對我們的學生來說也是免費的。我們擁有超過3000名教職員,包括校長、副校長、教授及學術指導者,來自頂尖的大學,例如紐約大學、耶魯、柏克萊、牛津,前來協助我們的學生。
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First, financial. Universities are expensive. We all know it. In large parts of the world, higher education is unattainable for an average citizen. This is probably the biggest problem facing our society. Higher education stopped being a right for all and became a privilege for the few. Second, cultural. Students who are qualified for higher education, can afford, want to study, cannot because it is not decent, it is not a place for a woman. This is the story of countless women in Africa, for example, prevented from higher education because of cultural barriers. And here comes the third reason: UNESCO stated that in 2025, 100 million students will be deprived from higher education simply because there will not be enough seats to accommodate them, to meet the demand. They will take a placement test, they will pass it, but they still won't have access because there are no places available.
These are the reasons I founded University of the People, a nonprofit, tuition-free, degree-granting university to give an alternative, to create an alternative to those who have no other, an alternative that will be affordable and scalable, an alternative that will disrupt the current education system, open the gates to higher education for every qualified student regardless of what they earn, where they live, or what society says about them. Patrick, Debbie and Wael are only three examples out of the 1,700 accepted students from 143 countries.
We — (Applause) — Thank you.
We didn't need to reinvent the wheel. We just looked at what wasn't working and used the amazing power of the Internet to get around it. We set out to build a model that will cut down almost entirely the cost of higher education, and that's how we did it. First, bricks and mortar cost money. Universities have expenses that virtual universities don't. We don't need to pass these expenses onto our students. They don't exist. We also don't need to worry about capacity. There are no limits of seats in virtual university. Actually, nobody needs to stand at the back of the lecture hall. Textbooks is also something our students don't need to buy. By using open educational resources and the generosity of professors who are putting their material free and accessible, we don't need to send our students to buy textbooks. All of our materials come free. Even professors, the most expensive line in any university balance sheet, come free to our students, over 3,000 of them, including presidents, vice chancellors, professors and academic advisors from top universities such as NYU, Yale, Berkeley and Oxford, came on board to help our students.
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最後是我們對於同儕學習的信念。我們使用這種健全的教育模式,鼓勵來自世界各地的學生彼此互動、共同學習,這也減少了教授們必須花在課堂作業上的時間。如果說網路讓世界變成地球村,這個模式能培養未來的領導力,看看我們是如何進行的。我們只提供兩個項目:商業管理與電腦科學,這是世上需求最廣的兩個項目,這是最可能幫助學生找到工作的兩個項目。當我們的學生被錄取後,會被安排到由20至30人組成的小班,確保具有個別需求的學生能獲得關注。此外,在九周的課程中,他們會認識新夥伴,一組來自世界各地的新同學。每周,當他們進入課堂,他們會找到本周的課程筆記、閱讀作業、家庭作業以及討論問題,這是我們學習的核心。每周,每位學生都必須參與課堂討論,也必須對其它人的觀點提供評論。藉由這種方法,我們拓展了學生的心智,使他們以正面態度對待不同文化。每周結束時,學生將參加一個測驗,繳交家庭作業,作業會在指導者監督下由同學互相評分得到成績,然後進入下一周的學習課程。結束後,他們將參加期末考,得到成績,然後繼續下一門課程。
我們為每一位符合資格的學生開啟高等教育大門,任何學生,只要擁有高中文憑、足夠的英語能力及網路連線都能和我們一起學習。我們不使用語音和影片教學,不需使用寬頻,來自世上任何地方的任何學生只要擁有網路連線都能和我們一起學習。我們不收學費,我們只要求學生負擔考試費用,每次考試100美元,一名選修40門全日制學士學位課程的學生,每年需支付1000美元,獲得學位總共需支付4000美元。對於連這些也無法負擔的學生,我們提供了各式各樣的獎學金。我們的使命是:沒有人會因為經濟因素而失去受教權利。到了2016年,在5000名學生的參與下,這個模式在經濟上是可持續的。五年前這只是一項願景,如今已成為事實。上個月我們的模式獲得學術界的最終認可,全民大學現在已完全通過認證(掌聲),謝謝。藉由這個認證,我們擴張的時機已成熟,我們已證明我們的模式是可行的。我邀請所有大學,更重要的是發展中國家的政府複製這個模式,確保高等教育的大門能開啟得更廣。
一個新時代即將來臨,這個時代將會見證我們今天所知的高等教育模式瓦解,從少數人的特權變成一項基本權力,所有人皆可負擔、皆可獲取。
謝謝。(掌聲)
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Finally, it's our belief in peer-to-peer learning. We use this sound pedagogical model to encourage our students from all over the world to interact and study together and also to reduce the time our professors need to labor over class assignments.
If the Internet has made us a global village, this model can develop its future leadership. Look how we do it. We only offer two programs: business administration and computer science, the two programs that are most in demand worldwide, the two programs that are likeliest to help our students find a job. When our students are accepted, they are placed in a small classroom of 20 to 30 students to ensure that those who need personalized attention get it. Moreover, for every nine weeks' course, they meet a new peer, a whole new set of students from all over the world. Every week, when they go into the classroom, they find the lecture notes of the week, the reading assignment, the homework assignment, and the discussion question, which is the core of our studies. Every week, every student must contribute to the class discussion and also must comment on the contribution of others. This way, we open our students' minds, we develop a positive shift in attitude toward different cultures. By the end of each week, the students take a quiz, hand in their homework, which are assessed by their peers under the supervision of the instructors, get a grade, move to the next week. By the end of the course, they take the final exam, get a grade, and follow to the next course.
We opened the gates for higher education for every qualified student. Every student with a high school diploma, sufficient English and Internet connection can study with us. We don't use audio. We don't use video. Broadband is not necessary. Any student from any part of the world with any Internet connection can study with us. We are tuition-free. All we ask our students to cover is the cost of their exams, 100 dollars per exam. A full-time bachelor degree student taking 40 courses, will pay 1,000 dollars a year, 4,000 dollars for the entire degree, and for those who cannot afford even this, we offer them a variety of scholarships. It is our mission that nobody will be left behind for financial reasons. With 5,000 students in 2016, this model is financially sustainable.
Five years ago, it was a vision. Today, it is a reality. Last month, we got the ultimate academic endorsement to our model. University of the People is now fully accredited. (Applause)
Thank you.
With this accreditation, it's our time now to scale up. We have demonstrated that our model works. I invite universities and, even more important, developing countries' governments, to replicate this model to ensure that the gates of higher education will open widely. A new era is coming, an era that will witness the disruption of the higher education model as we know it today, from being a privilege for the few to becoming a basic right, affordable and accessible for all.
Thank you.
(Applause)