Kepler (institution)

Kepler
Type Private, Nonprofit, Coeducational
Established September 2013
Students 300
Location Kigali, Rwanda
Website www.kepler.org

Kepler is a nonprofit higher education program that operates a university campus in Kigali, Rwanda. It is one of the first programs worldwide to integrate massive open online courses (MOOCs), flip teaching, and other education technology practices into a blended learning curriculum, with the goal of lowering the cost of higher education without a reduction in academic quality or outcomes. All graduates of the program receive an accredited U.S. degree through Southern New Hampshire University’s competency-based program, College for America.[1]

Kepler is funded primarily through a grant from the IKEA Foundation.[2] In April 2014, Christopher Hedrick joined the organization as its CEO.[3]

History

Kepler is being incubated within Generation Rwanda, a non-governmental organization founded in 2004. Its aim is to provide scholarships to local universities to Rwanda’s highest achieving secondary school graduates that could not otherwise afford higher education. The organization claims to have a 98% graduation rate as well as a 98% employment rate—outcomes far higher than the regional average.[4]

In 2013, Kepler ran its first pilot program, using a University of Edinburgh course through Coursera. In 2013, 50 students were chosen from 2,696 applicants and enrolled in the founding class. In 2014, another class of 100 students was selected, following a series of tests and interviews.

Function

Kepler operates an experimental university campus in Kigali, Rwanda that combines online courses with in-person facilitation and career training. They employ no faculty, opting to use MOOCs and other online resources for expert-level content, while retaining teaching experts to support student learning. Kepler’s Teaching Fellows are a mix of international educators and local Rwandan teachers.

According to its website, Kepler’s goal is “to create a global network of universities that deliver the skills that emerging economies need for a price that [its] students can afford.”[5] In addition to Kepler’s direct work as a university program, they promote the secondary aim of creating a “university in a box.” All of their data is being provided as open source content in order to encourage other institutions to adopt aspects of Kepler’s model in order to reduce the cost and increase the quality of current higher education options.[6]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Scientific American article on Kepler". Scientific American. July 12, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Fast Company article on African higher education". Fast Company. January 7, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Kepler Twitter page". Twitter. April 21, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Generation Rwanda website". Generation Rwanda. May 14, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Kepler website". Kepler. May 14, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Chronicle of Higher Education article on Kepler". Chronicle of Higher Education. September 16, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
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