The Future of Education Looks Like YC
What YCombinator can teach us about the future of higher ed
This is essay 6 of 7 for The Tech Progressive Writing Challenge. Join the conversation in the build_ Discord.
YCombinator is a seed startup accelerator with high prestige in the tech community. While YC isn’t technically an educational institution, it shows us the direction higher education is moving.
YC is a model of the future of education, and there will be similar institutions that deploy some of these key features that make YCombinator great.
Creating Over Credentials
YC does not give a degree at the end of the batch. Rather, they focus on the output and progress of your company during the program. Their motto is “Make Something People Want.”
The incentive to learn is to build your startup into a successful company. The learning is practical, action-oriented, and output driven.
A focus on building and creating helps to align the incentive to learn with the learning environment.
Intensity
The next generation of education institutions will be shorter and more intense.
Accelerators, cohort-based courses, and bootcamps have a short duration and emphasize intensity.
The goal is to learn the material and quickly apply it in the real world.
Rather than passive learning through a lecture like a MOOC, these institutions will treat intensity as a feature, not a bug. I’ve seen the benefits of short, intense experiences with The Tech Progressive and MyMBA.
Remote and Global
At the beginning of COVID, YC went fully remote. When they went remote, they were able to bring in larger batches and attract more global talent.
Education institutions will aim to be digital first and meet in-person second (I outline a model for this with The Network University).
This trend will continue as learning remotely provides cost, scalability, and accessibility benefits.
YC is a model for the next generation of education institutions. These institutions will be build-first, short, intense, digital-first, and global.