The world's first free university
Main beneficiary countries:United States - India - Canada - Cameroon - Kenya - Congo - Kinshasa - Sudan - Guadeloupe - Martinique - Trinidad & Tobago
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: Organizational: Communities, public authorities, NGOs, associations, foundations, etc.
Country of origin: Canada
Healthcare themes targeted
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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.
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).
Health professional training - Telemedicine (remote diagnosis and consultations) - Information, education and communication for behaviour change (IEC)
7454 Number of beneficiaries since launch
2000 Number of users per Year
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auto-evaluated or evaluated by a related organization
Organizational: Communities, public authorities, NGOs, associations, foundations, etc.
Organizational: Communities, public authorities, NGOs, associations, foundations, etc.
Health: Healthcare professionals and structures
Academic entities: Universities, research laboratories, etc.
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