Dan Futrell, the founder of a bold new university in Chicago known as Polymath University, has provided a rousing endorsement of our book on his LinkedIn site. Dan will attend our New Global Universities Summit in Washington, DC, and I look forward to learning more about his new Polymath University from him at the meeting. The Polymath Univeristy is “a 3-year, interdisciplinary, apprenticeship-based and debt-free school built from the ground up to empower leaders with the breadth, depth, and integration needed for impact.” The concept promises to rewrite some of the rules about how universities can structure their business model and cost points to make their education much more affordable and more relevant to students in finding future careers.

One interesting aspect of Polymath University is that while it is based in Chicago, it plans to offer its programs across the US and, therefore, will be much less expensive to operate and have wider reach than a typical brick-and-mortar institution. Despite not having a full residential campus experience, Polymath University promises to build strong cohorts of students by grouping them into regions and offering hybrid courses with in-person components as a central part of their program. As described on their website:

Polymath University doesn’t have a physical campus but will launch in Chicago, Illinois. Once launched, we plan to expand to other urban and rural cities nationwide. As described on their website:

“While courses will be offered in a hybrid format with approximately two weeks in person per academic year, our cohort of students will all be from the same city. This allows for our in-person time to be low-cost for students, with in-person instruction being accessible by public transit. This also allows for students to build their social and professional networks with other students and to create study groups for increased collaboration.”

The Polymath University program sounds really fascinating, and as part of the cohort of New Global Universities – we wish Dan and Polymath University well!