Former Google VP Ushers In A New Vision Of Higher Education
Long lectures. Seeing, not doing. A few years of sacrifice. That is how many people now view higher education as universities struggle to provide rapidly escalating student populations with a quality experience. Most states are still funding higher education at pre-recession levels, according to a report at the Center On Budget and Policy Priorities. How can higher education evolve to become more accessible, affordable, engaging and effective? Udacity CEO, Sebastian Thrun believes he has the answer.
"My dream is that everyone can have a world-class education," Thrun said. "When this happens, the world will be a better place. There will be fewer wars and less poverty. I can't imagine working on anything bigger than empowering all people in the world through better education." Thrun believes in this dream through Udacity's vision that education is no longer a one-time event but a lifelong experience. Education should be less passive listening (no long lectures) and more active doing, according to the company.
"At Udacity, we are doing it: we are democratizing education," Thrun said. "We are building a totally new university from scratch, one in which we teach students the latest and hottest technologies in Silicon Valley. We strive to transform the learning experience, leveraging the online medium. And, we are truly a university by industry, where leading tech companies, like Facebook and Google, are offering online courses.
"I am super excited about what we have managed to achieve at Udacity in a small amount of time," Thrun said. "We are changing almost every aspect of how education is delivered, most notably the experience, the credentials, and even the business model." It's not only about Udacity's business plan, but also about its people. "I am even more excited about the team we have assembled. I am amazed by the enthusiasm and skill of our 70-or-so Udacians."
In addition to Udacity CEO, Thrun is a research professor at Stanford University. From 2007 to 2014, he served as VP at Google to launch its moonshot division, Google X. He earned his Ph.D. from University of Bonn in computer science and statistics in 1995.
Residing in the San Francisco Bay Area, Greg is a patented inventor, technology enthusiast and intrepid journalist. He finds inspiration in diverse experiences, organizations, people and places -- from restaurants to politics, movies, music and, most of all, his daughter.
