????企業(yè)家總渴望對(duì)當(dāng)前的市場(chǎng)佼佼者發(fā)起挑戰(zhàn)，比如把美國(guó)電話(huà)電報(bào)公司（AT&T）、谷歌公司（Google）或沃爾瑪（Walmart）當(dāng)做目標(biāo)。但是本?尼爾森挑戰(zhàn)的目標(biāo)規(guī)模卻更龐大、根基更深厚：它就是常青藤盟校。

????尼爾森是“密涅瓦計(jì)劃”（Minerva Project）的創(chuàng)始人和首席執(zhí)行官。密涅瓦計(jì)劃的宣傳標(biāo)語(yǔ)為：“首家美國(guó)創(chuàng)世紀(jì)精英大學(xué)”。該計(jì)劃設(shè)定了比較嚴(yán)格的學(xué)業(yè)錄取標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，對(duì)在線(xiàn)課程的課堂人數(shù)有所限制，教師的教學(xué)職責(zé)也有很大革新，同時(shí)還具備全球化的校園氛圍。然而，它的學(xué)費(fèi)水平卻要比傳統(tǒng)高等教育機(jī)構(gòu)低得多。

????如果你認(rèn)為這個(gè)“膽大包天”的計(jì)劃簡(jiǎn)直就是異想天開(kāi)，和你一樣的大有人在。

????基準(zhǔn)資本投資公司（Benchmark Capital）合伙人凱文?哈維稱(chēng)：“我剛剛聽(tīng)到本的計(jì)劃時(shí)，我覺(jué)得他的野心太大了，大得有點(diǎn)不現(xiàn)實(shí)。但實(shí)際上，他已經(jīng)做了很透徹的思考，并且最終讓我相信，它是可以實(shí)現(xiàn)的。”

????為此，基準(zhǔn)資本向密涅瓦計(jì)劃投資了2,500萬(wàn)美元，這是該風(fēng)投公司17成立年來(lái)最大數(shù)額的種子期投資。

????尼爾森表示，他之所以會(huì)發(fā)起密涅瓦計(jì)劃，是因?yàn)榱私獾接泻芏鄬W(xué)業(yè)合格的學(xué)生被美國(guó)頂尖大學(xué)拒之門(mén)外?！氨热?，哈佛大學(xué)（Harvard）招生主管就曾說(shuō)過(guò)，85%的申請(qǐng)學(xué)生是符合條件的，但最終只有不到十分之一的學(xué)生被錄取……對(duì)于希望進(jìn)入美國(guó)大學(xué)念書(shū)的外國(guó)學(xué)生來(lái)說(shuō)尤其困難。精英大學(xué)教育在供求方面從根本上來(lái)講很不平衡?！?/p>

????因此，尼爾森設(shè)想了一所擺脫規(guī)模制約的精英大學(xué)，其運(yùn)作機(jī)制如下。密涅瓦在學(xué)生招錄過(guò)程中只考慮學(xué)生的學(xué)業(yè)因素，而課外活動(dòng)、家庭背景和經(jīng)濟(jì)捐贈(zèng)情況等其他因素都將被忽略。學(xué)費(fèi)還不到標(biāo)準(zhǔn)常春藤盟校學(xué)費(fèi)的二分之一（也就是不到20,000美元），此外每年食宿費(fèi)大約為11,000美元。食宿方面學(xué)生可以自主選擇。如果學(xué)生選擇此項(xiàng)，他們將住在與紐約大學(xué)（NYU）宿舍類(lèi)似的地方，宿舍位于全球各大主要城市市區(qū)。同時(shí)，學(xué)校還鼓勵(lì)學(xué)生每年變更住宿地址，旅費(fèi)也將包含在學(xué)生繳納的食宿費(fèi)用當(dāng)中。

????學(xué)生可以在線(xiàn)聽(tīng)取大學(xué)課程。每堂課將會(huì)分為兩部分。首先，密涅瓦會(huì)聘請(qǐng)來(lái)自頂尖大學(xué)的教授向?qū)W生講授專(zhuān)門(mén)的在線(xiàn)課程。接下來(lái)，密涅瓦會(huì)請(qǐng)教師針對(duì)該講座內(nèi)容開(kāi)展在線(xiàn)互動(dòng)式研討，每個(gè)班級(jí)不超過(guò)25名學(xué)生。這與一般大學(xué)里的小組交流課有些類(lèi)似，但主持研討會(huì)的教師都擁有高級(jí)學(xué)位，而不像一般大學(xué)那樣由在讀研究生來(lái)主持。

????尼爾森稱(chēng)：“很多人拿到了博士學(xué)位卻沒(méi)找到工作，因?yàn)樗麄円床幌矚g、要么不擅長(zhǎng)搞科研。但他們可能成為非常優(yōu)秀、知識(shí)淵博的老師，這正是我們需要的人……我們鼓勵(lì)他們對(duì)講座內(nèi)容提出異議，或者在課程方面發(fā)表自己的觀(guān)點(diǎn)。我們要努力做到教會(huì)學(xué)生如何思考，而不是讓他們只會(huì)聽(tīng)講，或者死記硬背。”

????一旦學(xué)生完成學(xué)業(yè)，密涅瓦會(huì)策劃相關(guān)活動(dòng)，協(xié)助學(xué)生開(kāi)啟職業(yè)生涯，比如學(xué)校會(huì)針對(duì)學(xué)生選擇的特定領(lǐng)域，將其推介給相關(guān)領(lǐng)域的人。

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????Entrepreneurs always want to challenge the incumbent, whether it be AT&T, Google or Walmart. But Ben Nelson has a much larger, more entrenched target in his sights: The Ivy League.

????Nelson is the founder and CEO of Minerva Project, which bills itself as “the first elite American university launched in a century.” Academically-rigorous admissions criteria, online courses with limited class sizes, reinvented teaching responsibilities and global campuses. Oh, and significantly lower tuition than traditional institutions of higher learning.

????If you think all of that sounds incredibly bold, if not naive, you're not alone.

????"When I first heard Ben's pitch, I thought that it was really ambitious, if not impossible," says Kevin Harvey, a partner with Benchmark Capital. "But Ben has really thought this through, and convinced me that it could be done."

????To that end, Benchmark has invested $25 million to Minerva -- the largest seed-stage funding in the venture capital firm's 17-year history.

????Nelson says that the genesis for Minerva was in learning how many academically-qualified students were being rejected from America's top universities. "Harvard's dean of admissions, for example, said that 85% of applicants are qualified, but less than one in ten is actually accepted... and it's particularly difficult for foreign students trying to get into American schools. There is a basic supply and demand imbalance."

????So Nelson envisioned an elite university that eliminated the size constraints. Here's how it works. Students will go through an admissions process that takes only academic credentials into account. Things like extracurricular activities, family legacies and financial donations are ignored. Minerva then will charge "less than half" of standard Ivy League tuition (i.e., under $20,000), plus around $11,000 per year in room and board. The room and board is optional, but those who use it will live in NYU-like urban dorms in major metropolitan centers around the world. Students also will be encouraged to live in different dorms each year, with travel costs baked into the boarding fees.

????The curriculum will be offered online, with each class broken into two parts: First, Minerva will contract an established professor -- most likely from a top university -- to create a proprietary online lecture. It then will hire teachers to run online, interactive seminars for no more than 25 students per class -- based on the lecture. Kind of like breakout sessions, except that the teachers all will hold advanced degrees, rather than be current graduate students.

????"There are lots of people out there with PhDs who haven't been able to find work because they either don't like research or aren't very good at it," Nelson says. "But they may be great, knowledgeable teachers -- and those are the people we're looking for... If they disagree with the lecture, or offer a different perspective on the subject matter, we will encourage it. We're trying to teach students how to think, not just how to listen and repeat."

????Once students graduate, Minerva plans to activity promote their careers -- particularly by making introductions to others in a student's chosen field.????