The University of the World is authorized as institution of higher education by the Higher Education Policy Commission of the State of West Virginia. The following features have been established:
- This is a university, not a service-delivering non-profit organization
- Offering Associate’s and Master’s degrees – plus non-degree courses
- Both learning and research will be promoted (the dual functions of a university)
- The center of learning is “of the world” (not a classroom, or a computer)
- Applied Blended Learning is the medium
- Across these learning streams, capacity grows through action among students and faculty
- Being able to be engaged from wherever, access to learning opens especially for marginalized populations
- The educational product emphasizes skills leading to useful employment
September 21, 2014: The University of the World received authorization to operate as an institution of higher education by the Higher Education Policy Commission of the State of West Virginia.
January 30, 2014: Over three days in New York, New York (USA), the University of the World gathered from all over the world Seven Expert Teams, its Advisory Council, and the Board of Governors. The purpose was to determine the starting points to begin degree programs. Expert Teams presented their recommendations to the Advisory Council and Board of Governors in the areas of Learning Plans and Admissions, Learning Cohorts, Faculty College, Assessment, Use of Information Technologies, Global Membership and Fund Raising, and Branding and Global Positioning.
June 30, 2013: the University of the World moved to independent operations from within the accredited Future Generations Graduate School where this university concept had been developing for three years. Over the prior 10 years Future Generations pioneered a mode of blended learning, offering two Master’s degrees and enrolling students from 33 countries.
May 30 – June 1, 2011: During a meeting in New York City, a distinguished Advisory Council was created, and this group now advises both Management and Board of Governors.
September 1, 2010: The University of the World was chartered in the State of West Virginia as a parallel not-for-profit corporation as another entity within the family of Future Generations organizations globally. It is a scaling up evolution of ideas pioneered by the accredited Future Generations Graduate School. A Board of Governors was established, and the University began systematic evolution.
Before the Formal Institution was Established
Concepts and planning for University of the World were initiated within the Future Generations Graduate School in 2008 as part of strategic planning to expand this graduate school’s reach as well as pedagogical effectiveness.
The family of Future Generations organizations globally (then seven organizations) has as its underlying charge from the organization’s founding by UNICEF’s Executive Director to understand and further the objective of “going to scale with community-based social change.” The short summary is that in addition to conventional scaling up that drives growth with external resources by applying personnel and budgets, an internally driven growth approach can begin in seeds of localized success and using existing societal systems of personnel and financing grow these seeds within the society.
Strands of Thinking that Came Together
Brenda Gourley’s Leadership
- As Vice Chancellor of the University of Natal, Brenda with her faculty led pioneering efforts to use the university structure to house pro-active action for community change in Apartheid South Africa (see Just and Lasting Change: When Communities Own Their Futures 2nd Edition–Johns Hopkins University Press, to be published late 2015)
- As Vice Chancellor of Great Britain’s Open University, Brenda worked to expand worldwide the concepts of “open education” where admissions is open but graduation must be to international standards
Daniel C. Taylor’s Fieldwork
- Daniel began his work in educational reform in graduate school while working with educational pioneers Ted Sizer (educational reform), Adam Curle (international education), and Paulo Friere (relevant education)
- Daniel continued a wide-range of experiments in experiential education during twenty years of leadership at The Mountain Institute with 189 different courses in many parts of America and the world