Tuition-free opportunity for young South Africans

Shai Reshef, president and founder of the University of the People (UoPeople)

UoPeople aims to expand access to tertiary education in Africa, and in turn assist in increasing and accelerating economic development in the continent. To date, students from 138 countries have been accepted with 1,000 more expected from Africa specifically in 2014.

UoPeople is a non-profit, tuition-free, degree-granting online academic institution dedicated to opening access to higher education globally. It is designed to provide access to college studies for qualified high school graduates, despite financial, geographic, societal, or personal constraints.

Largest scholarship programme

Earlier this year, the university announced a drive to increase its footprint and reach for African students. In support of this, Microsoft recently announced its offering of 1,000 UoPeople scholarships for African students. This is the institution's largest scholarship programme to date and opens the doors to higher education for so many African students.

"Increasing access to post-secondary education in Africa will create a significant impact on the African youth. By empowering them to be the future generation leaders of their communities, countries and the continent, equipped with world-class education, we believe they will be able to take Africa to its rightful place on the world stage," says Reshef.

Looking for sponsors

UoPeople will be scouting across South Africa for at least 100 deserving students to take advantage of the Microsoft 4Afrika scholarship. "We are also seeking out other corporations that may take up the challenge to sponsor more students in Africa and we anticipate that South Africa will be a major source country for our scholarship programmes," Reshef adds.

Founded in 2009, UoPeople has partnered with several prestigious brands and educational institutions such as Yale University for research and the New York University to accept students. In addition, the university works with Microsoft for scholarships and access to its certificate programmes, mentoring, internships and employment opportunities, and Hewlett-Packard, for general support, scholarships for women and internships.