NextGenU.org

The world’s first free university

Project start date : 01/07/2001

Beneficiary country : United States of America (the) India Canada Cameroon Kenya Congo (the Democratic Republic of the) Sudan (the) Guadeloupe Martinique Trinidad and Tobago

Healthcare themes targeted

  • Mother and child health
  • Primary healthcare
  • Nutrition
  • Malaria/paludism
  • Infectious diseases
  • Sexual and reproductive health
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Access to quality medicines/pharmacies
  • Vaccination
  • Chronic diseases
  • Cardiovascular illnesses
  • Cancer
  • Oral health
  • Dermatology
  • Mental health
  • Ophthalmology
  • Emergency services

Fields of application

  • Health professional training
  • Telemedicine (remote diagnosis and consultations)
  • Information, education and communication for behaviour change (IEC)

Stage of development

  • Routine project/operational

Financing method

  • Public (grant/subsidies, call for proposals/call for tender, etc.)
  • Private (private investors, crowdfunding, philanthropy, etc.)
  • NGO
  • Government agency (USAID, etc.)
  • Intergovernmental or international agency
  • Other (please specify)

Area where the project is utilised

  • International (in several countries)

Economic model(s)

  • Income generated by beneficiaries
  • Revenue generated by the beneficiaries/healthcare facilities
  • Subsidies
  • Donations
  • Other (please specify)

About the project

Starting with a focus in the health sciences, NextGenU.org’s accredited courses are being used by over 6,500 registered users in 191 (of 193) UN Member States/Countries, and NextGenU.org expect to achieve its ultimate outcome this Spring 2019: the first globally free degree, a Master’s in Public Health (now approved in Texas by UIW.edu, and awaiting final US-based accreditation in June 2019).
Courses span from college-level pre-health sciences and community health worker trainings, through public health graduate training, and a MedSchoolInABox (co-developed with Stanford, U of Toronto, and U Central Florida) that includes Graduate Medical Education. This educational system is not a set of Massive Open Online Courses – courses are competency-based, and include online knowledge transfer, a web-based global peer community of practice, skills-based mentorships, and a free certificate. NextGenU.org’s accredited partners, North American universities that are outstanding in each particular course topic, give learners credit for this training (or institutions can adopt them and use them with their students).


NextGenU.org addresses the pandemic shortage of health workers, with a global deficit of 12.9 million predicted by 2035.


These online, for-free and for-credit Masters of Public Health (MPH) and Medical Degree (MD) are providing high-quality courses and accredited full degrees for post-secondary students’ and institutions’ use.

55 Full-Time equivalents

5 Employees

50 Volunteers

100 Service providers

NextGenU.org

7 454

Number of beneficiaries since launch

Target audience

  • Healthcare professionals and structures (hospitals, healthcare centres/clinics, health networks)
  • Patient family/entourage

Project objectives

  • Decreased mortality
  • Decreased morbidity
  • Reduced suffering
  • Improved treatment
  • Other (please explain)

Materials used

  • Cellular (mobile) phone
  • Smartphone
  • Tablet
  • Computer
  • Connected objects

Technologies used

  • Mobile telecommunications (without data connection)
  • Internet
  • Mobile app (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, HTML5, etc.)

About the sponsor

NextGenU.org

Founded in 2001, NextGenU.org globally launched its first full course in March 2012, with a dozen free, tested, and accredited health sciences courses currently offered. NextGenU.org will enroll its first residents (in Texas) in July 2019; NextGenU.org is developing these Preventive Medicine residencies with the American College of Preventive Medicine, CDC, European Lifestyle Medicine Organization, Institute of Lifestyle Medicine at Harvard, Stanford Medicine, WHO, and others to create the first globally-available Graduate Medical Education.
NextGenU.org has tested and published on this free model in North American medical, public health, and undergraduate students, and in community health workers and primary care physicians in Kenya and in India, with as much knowledge gain and greater student satisfaction than with traditional courses, and the creation of a global community of practice.

Sector : Institutions (Communities, public authorities, NGOs, foundations, etc.)

Country of origin :

Contact : Sponsor website Project website

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Offline use

Yes

Open source

Yes

Open data

Yes

Independent evaluation

Yes, auto-evaluated or evaluated by a related organization

Partners

  • American College of Preventive Medicine

    Institutions (Communities, public authorities, NGOs, foundations, etc.)

  • Organization of Eastern Caribbean States

    Institutions (Communities, public authorities, NGOs, foundations, etc.)

  • European Lifestyle Medicine Organization

    Healthcare (professionals and structures)

  • Institute of Lifestyle Medicine at Harvard

    Academic entities (Universities, research laboratories, etc)