Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Future of Education

Singularity University starts classes towards the end of the month (June 29). From the FT:
More than 1,200 applicants have expressed interest in attending; 40 will be selected for the first term; $25,000 a person covers tuition, room and board. The inaugural class will be a mix of graduate students and businessmen and women with time to spare. Classes are eight hours a day, six days a week.
David Miller has a must-read post over at Campus Entrepreneurship that delves into more detail about the program. Also see Ray Kurzweil's Ted Talk from 2006.

Hopefully this serves as a model for future experimentation. How many people would be willing to pay $25,000 for 10 weeks of entrepreneurship education? Any takers? What if it were arranged by KKR or another Sand Hill Road venture capital firm in conjunction with Stanford? Since venture capitalists don't seem to be doing any IPOs these days, this might not be a bad option.

Could you imagine being taught how to prepare a business plan by a venture capitalist? Or learning about growth theory from Paul Romer? The possibilities quickly boggle the mind. How about a program focused on social entrepreneurship taught by academics and experts like Bill Drayton? So much potential and we're only seeing the very beginning of what promises to be an exciting series of innovations in education.

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