Key Takeaways
- Sal Khan is launching the Khan TED Institute to offer a low-cost, AI-focused alternative to elite universities, starting with a Bachelor’s degree in Applied AI.
- The program aims to secure academic accreditation, open within 12 to 24 months and keep total tuition under $10,000.
- Big-name employers, including Google, Microsoft, McKinsey, Bain and Accenture, are involved as partners.
Khan Academy founder and CEO Sal Khan is teaming up with Google, Microsoft and McKinsey to offer students a new option for higher education.
Khan announced this week that he is launching the Khan TED Institute, a new joint venture with TED and testing giant ETS. The idea is to offer an affordable, AI-focused degree that can compete with elite schools like Harvard and Stanford.
“We think there are many good reasons to go to a traditional university, but not everyone has access to those opportunities,” Khan said in a video announcing the program. “On top of that, the world is changing very, very, very fast. We want to make sure that there are ways even for people with traditional degrees to continue to reskill.”
Khan expects to launch the Khan TED Institute within the next one to two years and plans to seek accreditation as a full degree program. He aims to have a degree cost less than $10,000 total — just a sliver of what students pay at top-tier universities, where tuition alone is headed toward over $68,000 per year at Stanford and nearly $65,000 per year at Harvard.
Who the program targets
The Khan TED Institute’s first degree offering will be a Bachelor’s in Applied AI, with the offerings set to expand over time, per Fortune. The coursework will be online and asynchronous, so students can set their own schedules. The program targets students from all backgrounds, whether they are recent high school graduates or mid-career professionals.
“We think there are a lot of folks with existing degrees who want to reskill, who want to make sure their skills are relevant in an AI age,” Khan said in the video. “So there might be something like a second Bachelor’s program, with opportunity for transferring a significant number of credits if you already have a Bachelor’s.”
He said the program could also appeal to those already in college who want to pursue a second degree relevant to their careers. According to Khan, the “competency-based” program bases the degree on the skills students can prove they’ve mastered, not on how many hours they spend in class.
“We know there are many folks in the world who don’t either have access to quality higher education or the traditional pathway might not make sense for them,” Khan said. “So a competency-based pathway like what we’re offering could be very interesting.”
Gen Z has a strained relationship with higher education
For many young people, college is starting to feel like a shaky investment. Today, more than 42 million Americans carry federal student loans, and the average borrower owes nearly $40,000.
At the same time, new grads are finding it harder to land solid roles. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the unemployment rate of recent college graduates is 5.6%. Meanwhile, 42.5% of recent college graduates are working in jobs that don’t require college degrees.
It’s no surprise, then, that in one recent survey by Indeed, just over half of Gen Z graduates said they regret going to college in the first place.
Khan says the new institute will close the gap between higher education and the skills needed to succeed in the workforce by building its courses in partnership with major employers like Google, Microsoft, Accenture, Bain and McKinsey. The goal is to make sure students learn the AI and technical skills companies want, alongside softer skills like collaborating with others.
“This really could make a positive dent in what the world needs,” Khan said in the video. “We can create a world where more people really do have access to their potential and access to opportunity.”
Key Takeaways
- Sal Khan is launching the Khan TED Institute to offer a low-cost, AI-focused alternative to elite universities, starting with a Bachelor’s degree in Applied AI.
- The program aims to secure academic accreditation, open within 12 to 24 months and keep total tuition under $10,000.
- Big-name employers, including Google, Microsoft, McKinsey, Bain and Accenture, are involved as partners.
Khan Academy founder and CEO Sal Khan is teaming up with Google, Microsoft and McKinsey to offer students a new option for higher education.
Khan announced this week that he is launching the Khan TED Institute, a new joint venture with TED and testing giant ETS. The idea is to offer an affordable, AI-focused degree that can compete with elite schools like Harvard and Stanford.
“We think there are many good reasons to go to a traditional university, but not everyone has access to those opportunities,” Khan said in a video announcing the program. “On top of that, the world is changing very, very, very fast. We want to make sure that there are ways even for people with traditional degrees to continue to reskill.”
