University 42

A university in California has opened without any teachers.

00:00 20 October 2016

University 42 is a US college that will train about a thousand of students in coding and software development. It is a branch of an institution in France with the same name. But instead of having teachers, students will help each other with projects and then mark one another’s work. 

 

42 started in Paris in 2013 and was founded by French technology billionaire Xavier Niel. Applications have been hugely oversubscribed with recent students starting their own firms while others now working at companies such as Amazon, IBM and Tesla. 

 

42 does not charge tuition fee and offers free accommodation. Mr Niel and his co-founders are trying to do to education what Facebook did to communication and Airbnb to accommodation. 

 

Brittany Bir, chief operating officer of 42 in California and a graduate of its sister school in Paris, said: "The feedback we have had from employers is that our graduates are more apt to go off and find out information for themselves, rather than asking their supervisor what to do next,"

 

"Peer-to-peer learning develops students with the confidence to search for solutions by themselves, often in quite creative and ingenious ways."

 

"This is particularly important in computer programming, where individuals are notorious for lacking certain human skills,"