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Minerva reinvents the university system. Could it work?

By Jessica Lim

A small cohort of exceptionally bright youngsters, including two Malaysians, are about to subject themselves to a bold experiment that could change the face of tertiary education.

The Minerva Project is turning the concept of a University education on its head.
The Minerva Project is turning the concept of a University education on its head.

Haziq’s the kind of kid you really admire, but also kind of, well... hate.

He’s the guy who never pays attention in class but gets it all anyway. He crams the week before exams but still receives every conceivable award for academic excellence. If you’re hoping he’s a socially inept nerd - sorry. The dude’s a varsity athlete; and champions causes for refugees, the urban poor, earthquake victims and really ill people. He plays the guitar, sings, does improv comedy, debates, acts, writes, and directs plays. For a little light reading, he devours literature on continental philosophy.

He even finds time to kick butt in FIFA 14 and hit the karaoke bars.

At the end of August, Haziq Azizi and 32 other young people will start their first semester with The Minerva Project - a reinvented university experience that only admits the world’s smartest and most driven students.

“The current education system is failing our best and brightest. Kids like Haziq are barely challenged in the traditional classroom,” said Kenn Ross, Minerva’s managing director in Asia.

With an admission rate of 2.8%, Minerva has established the highest bar of any university in the world
With an admission rate of 2.8%, Minerva has established the highest bar of any university in the world

He explained that Minerva plucks these gifted kids from the humdrum of traditional education systems, and places them in a rigorous educational model that’s deliberately designed to create global thinkers, innovators and leaders.  

The selection process is formidable.

After reviewing their academic transcripts (which, needless to say, have to be pretty amazing), Minerva appraises their accomplishments outside the classroom. Achievements like Haziq’s become the new normal. After all, his classmates include three entrepreneurs with thriving businesses, two patent holders and eight published authors, alongside the regular slew of student leaders, athletes and award winners. That done, applicants undergo a set of cognitive and non-cognitive tests that weed out those with less than exceptional leadership and innovation skills. Lastly, they do a Skype interview, which includes a 10-minute essay.

The essay tests how students handle random everyday situations (eg. You’re at dinner, everyone has agreed to split the bill, one guy orders the most expensive item on the menu), but every keystroke, pause, ctrl-C and ctrl-V is recorded, then dissected to find out the inner workings of your brain and psyche.  

It’s tougher to get into Minerva than Harvard, but admission is unerringly fair, explains Kenn.
They received 2,464 applications from 96 countries, and the admission rate is 2.8%. “There’s an absolute bar for entry. Anyone who meets the bar gets in. Anyone.”

Minerva barely resembles a traditional university. For one, gone are the lectures, where a information is disseminated en masse. Instead, classes are taught as active, live video seminars and capped at 19 students. It uses a proprietary online platform which is kind of like a souped-up Google Hangout. It records everything, so data gathered during classes are instantly whipped back into lovely individualised feedback charts, giving teachers the heads up on how to exploit class time further for the students’ benefit.  

Minerva doesn’t have campuses. Yup - Gothic architecture, ivy-clad walls, lecture halls, floor-to-ceiling libraries, lush sports ovals - gone. Poof! Instead, students travel across seven global cities (San Francisco, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Hong Kong, London, New York and Mumbai) and live together in Minerva residence halls. Cutting out this stuff also brings the great advantage of making it a whole lot cheaper - students pay USD10,000 in tuition fees, which is about a fourth of what’s currently demanded by American ivy league institutions. Financial aid is available.

The syllabus is radically different. Instead of 101 introductory classes, the first year at Minerva is devoted to inculcating ‘habits of mind’ and ‘foundational concepts’, which train students to think critically and creatively, and communicate effectively.

“There about a hundred of these concepts and habits which can be applied to any field. In your first year you’re graded on them - but they’re ‘living grades’, so your scores are readjusted constantly throughout your time at Minerva depending on how you apply them to your courses throughout the remaining three years,” explained Kenn.  

As the students immerse themselves in the different cities they’re living in, they identify projects in their immediate surroundings to take on. These projects combine location-based learning and co-curricular activities to augment the regular class experience.

Haziq is determined to use the skills he develops while at Minerva to bring about change in Malaysia.
Haziq is determined to use the skills he develops while at Minerva to bring about change in Malaysia.

“One project I’d be keen to work on is to do with ‘peace and conflict’,” said Haziq.

“As I travel, I’ll encounter groups that are in conflict in terms of religion, culture, politics - same as here in Malaysia, really. I want to dig deep to understand these conflicts then start to bridge the divide.”

After his globe-trotting four years at Minerva, Haziq is determined to return to Malaysia with his new skills blazing.

“YES, yes I definitely want to come back! America is like a market that’s crowded, and there are so many problems that can be solved right here in southeast Asia - the healthcare system, equality, social justice - endless,” he said.

He’s particularly interested to explore how technology could be used in politics, citing a simple idea he had for a ‘rate your MP’ app: You see a pothole in your area, take a pic and use the app to report it. Your MP’s rating fluctuates depending on their response. On a bigger scale, he reckons technology can be harnessed to bring about major world changes, like holding unjust governments to task.

The other Malaysian that made the cut to be in Minerva’s founding class is Arvvin Maniam, an affable 19-year old from Petaling Jaya. He was putting together his application to Harvard when his bestie showed him an article about Minerva.

Arvvin decided to apply to Minerva rather than Harvard because of it’s innovative offering.
Arvvin decided to apply to Minerva rather than Harvard because of it’s innovative offering.

“After reading what Minerva had to offer, my Harvard dream changed. This is what a university education should do,” he said.

Both our homeboys faced scepticism from their loved ones. After all, Minerva’s concept is far from conventional. And everyone expects brains like these two to end up in the Ivy Leagues.

“My mum was like, ‘err, are you sure you can get a job after you graduate?’” laughed Haziq, who had declined offers from six prominent American universities including UCLA, Berkeley and Brown, and a full scholarship to Warwick U in UK, to take up Minerva’s offer.

As one of the boldest experiments in tertiary education in modern history, there's certainly a lot riding on the success of the founding class. Kenn is confident there's nothing to fear.

"We have to be successful, and we will be successful. Not only for these two guys, not only for the 33 people in the founding class, not only for Minerva - but for the future of education as we know it. We are thinking big. And this is big. That's why we will be successful."