Historic Founding Class Begins First Year at the Minerva Schools at KGI

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Today is the first day of classes for students at the Minerva Schools at KGI, a reinvented university experience for the brightest and most motivated students in the world. Minerva's Founding Class includes 30 students from 14 countries and territories. The students, whose individual profiles can be viewed at https://minerva.kgi.edu/founding/, arrived in San Francisco last week for orientation and their first year of classes.

"The students in Minerva's Founding Class are some of the most impressive young people I have encountered in my career," said Dr. Stephen M. Kosslyn, Founding Dean at Minerva, a renowned scholar and former Dean of Social Sciences at Harvard University. "From the beginning, Minerva was designed with the student at its center. Now that the students have arrived, we are delivering on our promise of a reimagined pedagogy, curriculum and residential experience."

Two years ago, Minerva was a radical concept in higher education. Today it is an accredited, highly selective undergraduate program with accomplished faculty and exceptional students. Minerva received 2464 applications from 96 different countries for its Founding Class. Minerva accepted every single student who passed the extremely high admissions bar – resulting in an acceptance rate of 2.8%.

"Choosing Minerva gives me an opportunity to have a mission-driven education," said Haziq Azizi Ahmad Zakir, age 20, a member of the Founding Class from Malaysia. "Every aspect of Minerva is designed to train us to tackle some of the world's grandest and most complex challenges. I hope to help shape an educational model for students who are good enough to get into the best universities, but who also want an alternative path that will deliberately empower to them to make a positive impact on the wider world."

The undergraduate program at Minerva is fundamentally different from those at other highly selective American universities.

• A scaffolded curriculum emphasizes the development of key habits of mind and foundational concepts rather than knowledge dissemination - and there are no introductory level classes
• All classes are live interactive seminars of 19 students or fewer led by an accomplished professor via Minerva's proprietary technology platform, the Active Learning Forum^TM
• Students live together in global student residences in major metropolitan cities around the world, rotating up to seven times during their four years at Minerva
• Academic classes are supplemented and complemented by unique cultural, social and civic experiences designed to take advantage of global locations
• Tuition is $10,000, approximately 25% of the cost of most highly selective, private American institutions.

During the past week, Minerva students participated in a variety of orientation activities in San Francisco, the site of Minerva's first student residence. Activities included cultural competency workshops, training on the technology platform, one-on-one meetings with academic advisors, a special co-curricular activity at the San Francisco Exploratorium, and much more.

Admission to Minerva is based on the most rigorous intellectual standards and assessments with no weight given to ancestry, athletic ability, state or country of origin, or capacity to donate. Applications are now being accepted for matriculation in Fall 2015. Interested students can apply at https://minerva.kgi.edu/application/start/.

MEDIA ASSETS:
Video B-roll and photos are available of Minerva students, faculty, founder and the university's unique interactive classroom platform. Interviews can be scheduled with Minerva's founder and CEO, faculty, and students, upon request.

About Minerva Schools at KGI
The Minerva Schools at KGI offer a reinvented university experience for the brightest, most motivated students from around the world. Combining an interdisciplinary curriculum and rigorous academic standards, an accomplished faculty versed in the science of learning, an advanced interactive learning platform leveraging cutting-edge technology, and four years of immersive global experience, Minerva will deliver an exceptional liberal arts and sciences education for future leaders and innovators in every discipline. The Minerva Schools at KGI were established in 2013 by KGI (Keck Graduate Institute) in alliance with Minerva Project and have been granted accreditation by WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges). www.minerva.kgi.edu

SOURCE Minerva Schools at KGI