Shai Reshef

Shai Reshef is the President of University of the People (UoPeople). Founded on the belief that higher education is a basic human right, UoPeople is the first non-profit, tuition-free, American, accredited online university. Dedicated to opening access to higher education globally, UoPeople is designed to help qualified high school graduates overcome financial, geographic, political, and personal constraints keeping them from collegiate studies. UoPeople currently serves 137,000 students from over 200 countries. Over 16,500 of these students are refugees.Reshef has been widely recognized for his work with UoPeople, including being awarded the 2023 Yidan Prize for Education Development; named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business; awarded an honorary doctorate from the Open University; selected by OneWorld as one of its ‘People of 2009’; and selected as a Top Global Thinker by Foreign Policy Magazine. Reshef’s TED Talk and Nas Daily video about the University have over 30M views combined