World Education University aims to create an ‘army of humanitarians’


WEU aims to improve the socio-economic status of the world’s underserved populations.

Long before Scott Hines dreamed up the World Education University, he was a young foster kid growing up in Western Colorado who believed that college was out of his reach. That all changed when he was accepted into the Air Force Academy.

“I was very lucky I got in,” he said. “It’s a completely free, high-caliber education. You pay back your education through service to your country. It set me on a whole other path.”

Hines earned a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees while serving more than 10 years of active duty. Yet, as he continued to accumulate higher education honors, he never forgot where he came from.

“It has been a lifelong goal for me to pay it back and inspire other kids like me to reach for the stars,” he said.

In 2010, Hines was elected Mayor of Rancho Mirage, Calif., and he founded World Education University (WEU), a completely free online university where he serves as president and chief operating officer, alongside Curtis Pickering, who serves as CEO.

WEU is unlike most other online universities in that it focuses primarily on training its students to become “an army of humanitarians,” according to Hines.

(Next page: How WEU works—and how it emphasizes the importance of giving back)

“Right up front, we require [that students] agree to an ‘I will give back’ pledge,” he said. “It’s very short, simple, and broad, and says you’ll take this gift of free education and agree to do good work with it.”

Hines said that this “pay it forward” mission is ingrained into every course of study.

“We’re pragmatists,” he said. “We really believe that the vast majority [of students] will find a way to pass on the inspiration of WEU and make the people around them better as a result of becoming an educated person.”

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WEU was in development for approximately two years before officially opening its virtual doors to students on Feb. 1. Currently, 20 courses are live—and Hines predicts that another 260 courses will be made live by the end of June. WEU has contracted with 130 course developers to write the courses that are taught mostly by adjunct professors, many of whom are “disenchanted with the state of higher education,” according to Hines.

“[Professors] find us—it has been a real phenomenon,” he said. “We have a job board posting that we do on our website, but it’s really through word of mouth and the handful of articles that have been written. Our secret sauce is this amazing mission of WEU—people are drawn to the transformative potential of what WEU can do for the world.”

Hines believes that in the future, traditional brick-and-mortar schools will become to higher education what boarding schools are to K-12 today. He said that many of the world’s most respected schools are elitist and unjustly pride themselves on their exclusivity. “It’s almost like it’s a badge of honor to report how many students you turn away,” he said. But are these universities ignoring perhaps the most obvious problem that comes along with rejecting thousands of students every year? Hines thinks so.

“They’re really not interested in democratizing education,” he said. “Less than 5 percent of the world’s population attends college—[we need to] open up education to the people who most need it in the world. Technology, for the first time in the world’s history, has allowed us to do that. I really stand up and defend the fact that online education is a tool that makes a difference in the vast majority of people’s lives.”

The university is run primarily through revenue from advertisers and through several restricted, proprietary business contracts. Outside of offering various bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, WEU has developed a sexual harassment certificate that covers 95 percent of the information in most companies’ policy manuals. Through these contracts, a company’s employees can take a comprehensive, non-credit online course to gain sexual harassment training certification.

(Next page: The significant role of communication at WEU)

Hines said these contracts are a win-win for both employers and employees. So far, he has observed that many employees come to WEU to take the sexual harassment course and decide to stay and pursue a free higher-ed degree.

WEU is aggressively pursuing regional and national accreditation but is already legally authorized to award degrees. Hines said that a team of Ph.D.s examine WEU’s courses before they go live to ensure proper rigor and credit-worthiness. Students are permitted to complete courses at their own pace, and even finish college degrees that they started at other universities.

WEU primarily promotes andragogy, or learning strategies focused on adults as opposed to more traditional pedagogical tactics, because 60 percent of its student body is older than 30.

“The students are our clients, and our second priority is employers,” said Hines. WEU works closely with career professionals to prepare students for the modern workforce.

Hines said WEU believes the best way to assess students’ concerns and promote successful learning outcomes is to remain in constant communication with them.

“We will be rolling out, by the end of March, a full suite of interactive communications software to be embedded in the systems,” he said. Promoting communication between students is also imperative.

“Peer-to-peer learning is very important,” he said. “This is often a difficult [concept] for higher ed to understand. In our model of supportive independent study, faculty becomes facilitators.”

Follow Assistant Editor Sarah Langmead on Twitter @eCN_Sarah.

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