“THE first elite university to be launched in America in over a century.” Ben Nelson, who cut his entrepreneurial teeth as chief executive of Snapfish, a photo website, does not shy away from making big claims. But he has every reason to boast. On April 3rd Benchmark Capital announced that it will fund Minerva, which plans to welcome its first class of students in September 2014, to the tune of $25m—one of the biggest seed investments of a leading Silicon Valley venture firm ever. What is more, the new university's advisory board will be chaired by Larry Summers, a former president of Harvard University, and count among its members Bob Kerrey, a former senator and head of the New School in New York, and Pat Harker, president of the University of Delaware and a former dean of the Wharton School.
This is a brave moment to launch a for-profit university. There is much talk of a “bubble in higher education”—an over-expansion fuelled by the ready availability of student loans to pay for courses that often fail to lead to the lucrative careers promised in advertisements. And for-profit universities, many of which deliver more and more education online (as Minerva will do), have been widely criticized, including for low-standards and overly aggressive sales practices. Their shares have been targeted by well-known short-sellers. Mr Nelson insists that by aiming at the elite student market, Minerva will steer well away from such problems.
The presence of heavyweights of higher education on the board reflects the fact that Minerva is not aiming to displace incumbents, but rather to fill a gap they have left. “I don't want or need to disrupt Harvard. I care about the kid who should have got into Harvard but didn't,” says Mr Nelson. Currently, America's 30 or so elite universities turn away over 90% of applicants (the vast majority of whom meet the qualification standards) as the result of a process he describes as a “lottery”. In particular, Minerva is aiming to tap into the demand for an elite American education from the developing world's rising middle class—for the “children of a Wipro middle manager from India, or a Foxconn line operator from China,” in the words of Mr Nelson.
Minerva aspires to reinvent everything, from the business model and the curriculum to the way in which teaching is delivered. The plan is for admission standards to be higher than current Ivy League levels, and for courses to be tough enough for students to fail if they do not pull their weight (a rarity in American education, except in cases of extreme incompetence). The curriculum will focus on skills rather than traditional academic studies and be based on four pillars: critical thinking, use of data, understanding complex systems and leading through effective communication. The course content will be outsourced, drawing from what is readily available online and through a “Minerva Prize” competition to get leading educators to design classes. It will be delivered via the internet to classes of 25 students and a professor will then engage them in debate. Students will be located in several cities around the world, and be expected to move to a different location each year.