New universities to launch within Minerva University System

MINERVA® PROJECT: SYSTEM PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New universities to launch within Minerva University System

SAN FRANCISCO, 27 August 2026 — Minerva® Project today announced its creation of the Minerva University System, a global network of new institutions that will be built and operated on the educational model it has spent fifteen years testing, refining, and proving across more than 30 universities in a dozen countries.

For the first time, a government, a philanthropist, or an institution will be able to establish a new university carrying the Minerva name, built on Minerva curriculum designs, faculty model, assessment framework, and Forum® learning platform. Member institutions will be structured much as a public university system is.

“No country has ever been able to tell its people, ‘We are building you a Harvard,’” said Ben Nelson, Founder and CEO of Minerva Project. “That is what we are offering. Not a franchise of an American university, and not a campus that exports a diluted version of traditional curriculum, but a Minerva University built for that country, that student population, or that interdisciplinary domain, based on the model that we have already proven to be effective.”

Minerva Project was founded in 2011 to reform higher education from first principles. Its first institution, Minerva University, opened in 2014 with 25 students, secured independent accreditation from the WASC Senior College and University Commission in 2021, and has been named the world’s most innovative university by the World University Rankings for Innovation for five consecutive years. Its graduates have achieved entrepreneurship rates 24-times higher than those of Stanford graduates, won multiple Rhodes, Fulbright, Schwarzman, and Knight-Hennessy scholarships, and gone on to top-tier graduate programs and research appointments at universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and Princeton.

Since 2021 the model has been implemented at numerous partner institutions. Minerva has trained more than 1,000 instructors and reached over 50,000 learners at institutions. Partners range from the small to the very large, the highly selective to the open access, in the US, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas.

“Nobody can build best-in-class universities like Minerva,” said Jorge Diaz Cuervo, President of Universidad de la Libertad, an innovative business university in Mexico City. “They helped us stand up UL in nine months, then hit 90% of our five-year targets within three years.”

Now Minerva is leveraging its expertise to build the Minerva University System, tackling the shortcomings of traditional universities head on. AI literacy modules and policy statements are not enough to ensure humans retain their agency and value in the face of artificial superintelligence. People need to be taught to think independently, analyse information for accuracy and address problems creatively, then generate their own conclusions to harness the promise of AI models and agents.

“We’ve educated students from a hundred countries in multiple languages, but our impact is neither broad nor fast enough,” Nelson said. “We need to accelerate the acquisition of what I call ‘critical wisdom,’ the ability to think critically and systematically, and be able to apply durable human skills to new challenges and contexts. If we cede our decision making and creative problem solving to AI, humans will become its subjects.

“This announcement is both an invitation and a provocation to the higher education sector. The time for philosophizing and experimenting is over. We need to reach hundreds of millions of students not thousands. We have a tested solution, and we are bringing it to the world.”

The Minerva model integrates cognitive and behavioral science, problem- and project-based learning, and a defined set of measurable capabilities taught through fully active and applied learning methods. Institutions that have implemented it report remarkable gains in engagement, retention, completion, and graduate outcomes.

“Minerva has demonstrated how to successfully translate the learning sciences into truly transformative educational experiences,” said Eric Mazur, Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University, and the pioneer of Peer Instruction. “Every interaction I’ve had with Minerva students and alumni leaves me profoundly impressed; their ability to think critically and apply their knowledge sets a new benchmark for higher education. I look forward to seeing this model scale globally.”

The new Minerva University System will issue a formal call-for-founders and is already in discussion with four groups defining what is required to establish a member institution. They include:
• Governments building new workforce and leadership capacity to be globally competitive in the age of AI.
• Philanthropists and benefactors who believe the world’s next top universities will be founded in this century, rather than inherited from the last.
• Owners of dormant or newly licensed institutions holding accreditation and looking for a model to accelerate the creation of best-in-class educational programs.
• Established universities seeking to expand their portfolios, enhance their profiles, and offer innovative programs under the Minerva University banner.

Founders will work with Minerva Project to define the institutional vision, domain orientation, student model, and location for each new university. All member institutions will operate on shared infrastructure, align with Minerva academic standards, and engage in ongoing innovation and improvement efforts.

/ENDS

PR contact
For more information or to speak with Ben Nelson, contact: Stephanie Mullins-Wiles, Email: smullins@bluesky-pr.com, +Tel: 44 (0)1582 790 703