????企業(yè)家總渴望對當前的市場佼佼者發(fā)起挑戰(zhàn)，比如把美國電話電報公司（AT&T）、谷歌公司（Google）或沃爾瑪（Walmart）當做目標。但是本?尼爾森挑戰(zhàn)的目標規(guī)模卻更龐大、根基更深厚：它就是常青藤盟校。

????尼爾森是“密涅瓦計劃”（Minerva Project）的創(chuàng)始人和首席執(zhí)行官。密涅瓦計劃的宣傳標語為：“首家美國創(chuàng)世紀精英大學”。該計劃設定了比較嚴格的學業(yè)錄取標準，對在線課程的課堂人數有所限制，教師的教學職責也有很大革新，同時還具備全球化的校園氛圍。然而，它的學費水平卻要比傳統(tǒng)高等教育機構低得多。

????如果你認為這個“膽大包天”的計劃簡直就是異想天開，和你一樣的大有人在。

????基準資本投資公司（Benchmark Capital）合伙人凱文?哈維稱：“我剛剛聽到本的計劃時，我覺得他的野心太大了，大得有點不現(xiàn)實。但實際上，他已經做了很透徹的思考，并且最終讓我相信，它是可以實現(xiàn)的。”

????為此，基準資本向密涅瓦計劃投資了2,500萬美元，這是該風投公司17成立年來最大數額的種子期投資。

????尼爾森表示，他之所以會發(fā)起密涅瓦計劃，是因為了解到有很多學業(yè)合格的學生被美國頂尖大學拒之門外。“比如，哈佛大學（Harvard）招生主管就曾說過，85%的申請學生是符合條件的，但最終只有不到十分之一的學生被錄取……對于希望進入美國大學念書的外國學生來說尤其困難。精英大學教育在供求方面從根本上來講很不平衡。”

????因此，尼爾森設想了一所擺脫規(guī)模制約的精英大學，其運作機制如下。密涅瓦在學生招錄過程中只考慮學生的學業(yè)因素，而課外活動、家庭背景和經濟捐贈情況等其他因素都將被忽略。學費還不到標準常春藤盟校學費的二分之一（也就是不到20,000美元），此外每年食宿費大約為11,000美元。食宿方面學生可以自主選擇。如果學生選擇此項，他們將住在與紐約大學（NYU）宿舍類似的地方，宿舍位于全球各大主要城市市區(qū)。同時，學校還鼓勵學生每年變更住宿地址，旅費也將包含在學生繳納的食宿費用當中。

????學生可以在線聽取大學課程。每堂課將會分為兩部分。首先，密涅瓦會聘請來自頂尖大學的教授向學生講授專門的在線課程。接下來，密涅瓦會請教師針對該講座內容開展在線互動式研討，每個班級不超過25名學生。這與一般大學里的小組交流課有些類似，但主持研討會的教師都擁有高級學位，而不像一般大學那樣由在讀研究生來主持。

????尼爾森稱：“很多人拿到了博士學位卻沒找到工作，因為他們要么不喜歡、要么不擅長搞科研。但他們可能成為非常優(yōu)秀、知識淵博的老師，這正是我們需要的人……我們鼓勵他們對講座內容提出異議，或者在課程方面發(fā)表自己的觀點。我們要努力做到教會學生如何思考，而不是讓他們只會聽講，或者死記硬背。”

????一旦學生完成學業(yè)，密涅瓦會策劃相關活動，協(xié)助學生開啟職業(yè)生涯，比如學校會針對學生選擇的特定領域，將其推介給相關領域的人。

????

????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.????