Shai Reshef
| Shai Reshef | |
|---|---|
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| Born | September 11, 1955 (age 61) |
| Residence | Pasadena, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan (MA) |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Founder & President, University of the People |
Shai Reshef born September 11, 1955 is an educational entrepreneur, founder and president of University of the People, the world's first non-profit, tuition-free, accredited online university. His TED Talk, entitled "An ultra-low-cost college degree", has been viewed more than 4 million times.
Reshef earned an MA in Chinese Politics from the University of Michigan. From 1989 to 2005, Reshef served as Chief Executive Officer and then Chairman of the Kidum Group, a for-profit educational services and test preparation company. Reshef joined Kidum in 1989 when it was a single product company with revenues of $100,000. Under his leadership, Kidum grew to become a company with annual revenues in excess of $25 million, with over 1,000 employees and 50,000 students a year. In 2005, he sold the company to Kaplan, Inc., one of the world’s largest education companies and a subsidiary of the Washington Post.
Between 2001 and 2004, while continuing as the chairman of Kidum, Reshef lived in the Netherlands where he chaired KIT eLearning, a subsidiary of Kidum. KIT became the eLearning partner of the University of Liverpool in 1999, and was the first online university outside of the United States, providing MBA and M.Sc. degrees in Information Technology. In 2004, the company was acquired by Laureate Education, Inc. and changed its name to Laureate Online Education. It maintains its partnership with the University of Liverpool under its new name.
Reshef is married and has four children. He lives in Pasadena, California.
In January 2009, Reshef founded University of the People (UoPeople), a non-profit, accredited online academic institution that seeks to increase the availability of higher education by offering tuition-free degrees. The university has a stated mission of breaking down the barriers to entry in higher education. It offers qualified students all over the world who have been adversely impacted by conflict, socioeconomic obstacles or even health challenges a chance to obtain a quality degree.
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