At universities like Carleton, an education for most people means hours upon hours in a lecture hall. At Next Generation University (NextGenU), it can mean learning from home, an airplane, working with classmates in Ecuador or East Africa and learning from professors at Oxford University while you sit at home in another country. It’s also free.
NextGenU is offering free university-level education to students worldwide.
Erica Frank, the founder of NextGenU and a professor at University of British Columbia (UBC), said she realized she could create the world’s first free university over a decade ago. Once she realized it was possible, Frank said she simply had to.
With a current focus on public health and environmental sustainability, NextGenU offers courses to begin or continue education. These courses are composed of literature from co-sponsors like the World Medical Association, professors across North America and content from well-regarded universities.
In North America, this can mean courses transferable to accredited universities, or a chance to take a climate change and health course — the first of its kind, Frank said.
“There’s a Jeffersonian component that we want to have an educated populace because we want to have an educated election,” she said. “I think part of the reason North Americans make bad decisions on who they elect is because they don’t understand things like climate change.”
In developing countries where access to education is marginalized, NextGenU helps give students and universities more access to a high quality of education. To illustrate, Frank worked with hospitals and schools in Ecuador to turn regular working hospitals into learning hospitals — giving health practitioners the man power they need, and students the practical application they do.
As the director of public health at NextGenU, Kate Tairyan leads the development of certificates, courses, and a soon to be master’s degree in public health. The global reach of their ability to educate people keeps her dedicated to the growing project.
“University-level, high-quality education without barriers — that’s what NextGenU will bring to the world,” said Tairyan, a senior lecturer at Simon Fraser University. “It will significantly remedy one of the world’s most pressing needs: the lack of adequately trained health workers.”
Michelle Kunz, a master’s student at UBC and the director of evaluation, said NextGenU does face challenges by being mostly Internet-based, like the lack of a university-style community, or seeking partnerships with universities. But she said the benefits heavily outweigh the drawbacks.
“Imagine all the universities and colleges in low-resourced settings that will have access to high-quality curricula and learning resources, all immediately and for free . . . imagine the lives saved due to health care providers in rural and remote communities getting the education they need, without having to travel,” Kunz said.
Carleton president Roseann Runte said although she’s not sure of what effect a free online university could have on traditional campuses, she points to movements like alternative education changing the way students are taught.
“People think universities are stable institutions and they don’t change,” Runte said. “They change a lot and [NextGenU] is part of a change.”
Kunz said she hopes NextGenU’s impact will grow, changing education for the better and making it more globally accessible.
“NextGenU’s method is cost-effective, sustainable, and accessible,” Kunz said. “It will literally change and save many lives.”
