Dear Alessandro,

How many people and how much expense depends on what you mean by "University". You would need to follow steps similar to those outlined by Sinisa whether you were trying to start a new one-room school house, or a large University. Normally, at least in the US, the term "University" is usually used to mean a large school with multiple departments with both 4-year Bachelor's degrees and also Master's degrees and Ph.Ds. With only Bachelor degrees, it would normally be called a "college". With only post-graduate degrees, it would be a "graduate school".

From your question about starting with one faculty member, it appears you are hoping to start much smaller than that. I believe, in fact, that you could start very small, even with very ambitious goals as to the quality of the education. I wouldn't necessarily call it a "University", but if you focus on a single specialty, a small group (starting with a single person) could offer courses at the level of a Master's degree, Ph.D, or even post-doc training.

At the extreme low-end of expense, you could start by offering the courses online, with no classrooms, buildings or physical location. To minimize cost, assume the faculty all have other means of financial support, such as existing part-time faculty positions of or as employees or consultants to private industry. If the faculty intially work for no salary, the you could bootstrap from as little investment as the cost of hosting a website plus required administrative work and government fees and taxes.

The cheapest way to start would be to develop the course material for a set of course that would be offered under the auspices of an existing educational institution. At many universities, faculty members retain ownership of any textbooks of curricular material that they develop, even if they develop it on the university's time. Then you don't have any expense until you have already developed a full curriculum of courses.

So, depending on what you mean by "university", the start-up cost could be anywhere from zero to several hundred million dollars. I know cases where the cost just of starting a new "school" at an existing university was in the range of fifty to one hundred million. But I also believe that you could bootstrap with only "sweat equity" (unpaid labor) and no financial investment.

Dear Alessandro,

First you MUST have a clear vision about University you want to build up. So, first step is: DEFINE YOUR VISION

Second step: find your associates who will be the nucleus of future University. That's because everything starts with people and the people runs everything. You have to keep in mind that with academic staff you must include the people and experts from industry, public service/sector, politics and business also.

Third step: define your mission and write a draft version curricula for different studies. Off course, the draft version should be adjusted several times before final version.

Fourth step: search for investors who will be the founders of the future University.

Fifth step: start the accreditation of your study curricula and when you'll get it you can enroll the first generation of students.

WARNING: My dear friend, this process lasts for approximately 2-5 years. So, considering recession I wish you a Good Luck, because, trust me you'll need it.

THANK YOU Sinisa! I was not expecting so much informations in one only answer!

If I may ask you a question: one could also imagine to start with only one Faculty right?

In fact why not if you fulfill all the requirements...

I also wander "what kind = which amount" of money you would need to start with.

Looking forward "to hear" from other.

Again THANK YOU (:-)

Dear Alessandro,

How many people and how much expense depends on what you mean by "University". You would need to follow steps similar to those outlined by Sinisa whether you were trying to start a new one-room school house, or a large University. Normally, at least in the US, the term "University" is usually used to mean a large school with multiple departments with both 4-year Bachelor's degrees and also Master's degrees and Ph.Ds. With only Bachelor degrees, it would normally be called a "college". With only post-graduate degrees, it would be a "graduate school".

From your question about starting with one faculty member, it appears you are hoping to start much smaller than that. I believe, in fact, that you could start very small, even with very ambitious goals as to the quality of the education. I wouldn't necessarily call it a "University", but if you focus on a single specialty, a small group (starting with a single person) could offer courses at the level of a Master's degree, Ph.D, or even post-doc training.

At the extreme low-end of expense, you could start by offering the courses online, with no classrooms, buildings or physical location. To minimize cost, assume the faculty all have other means of financial support, such as existing part-time faculty positions of or as employees or consultants to private industry. If the faculty intially work for no salary, the you could bootstrap from as little investment as the cost of hosting a website plus required administrative work and government fees and taxes.

The cheapest way to start would be to develop the course material for a set of course that would be offered under the auspices of an existing educational institution. At many universities, faculty members retain ownership of any textbooks of curricular material that they develop, even if they develop it on the university's time. Then you don't have any expense until you have already developed a full curriculum of courses.

So, depending on what you mean by "university", the start-up cost could be anywhere from zero to several hundred million dollars. I know cases where the cost just of starting a new "school" at an existing university was in the range of fifty to one hundred million. But I also believe that you could bootstrap with only "sweat equity" (unpaid labor) and no financial investment.

@James: wow thank you. Very detailed analysis and information.

Mine is a simple and naive/general question...but anyway EDUCATION is one of my preferred outside main activity.

As a doctor and been implicated with med students ...question came in mind.

Anyway you are 100% right. At this stage one (me?) should start thinking "smaller is bigger"...since millions are not available.

Again : THANKS

I don't know anything about what is required to get certification to offer MD degrees, but I am sure that it is substantial. I also don't see how to bootstrap that.

However, if you are interested in medical and health care EDUCATION more broadly, there are things that you could start small and grow. For example, there is a whole range of health care professions that only require a certificate or a degree that is less than an MD degree. As a different example, there is always a need for additional education for doctors to keep up with the latest results in their field. As a business this could range from a certified medical school down to a specialty publishing business aimed at high quality education, but not requiring certification. As a final example, there would be educating the general public about health care issues.

Dear Allessandro, James is 100 % right. However, I didn't mention in my previous answer that you have to study all the legislation about higher education in your country and to find out all legal requirements, you have to fulfill before starting the process of accreditation of your study programme. But I wonder, do you have a clear picture of your project to start a new university or school of medicine (something like James suggest you "between lines") or you're just "shooting in air" or "releasing baloons"?

@ Sinisa: Yes it is a "a shooting in the air" situation!

But as often in this scenario there is a real project/intention behind.

I do like EDUCATION and Teaching.

As a pediatrician, I like to organize and give classes for parents, nurses, medical assistant, doctors and medical doctors.

I would like to "supersize" this "know-how" and involve other colleague in a "structured" way of giving thoses classes (First aid for parents...pediatrics modules for nurses,...)

Well as you might konw and agree with, people jump in boat...if the boat has room and it is kind of solid!

That is all about my shoot...

Diana, you seem to be on the right track already. As James mentioned, you can partner with another institution to achieve your objectives but with healthcare curricula, you don't need to reinvent the proverbial "wheel." Many organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO) have prepackaged curricula that needs deliverers. I have the same interests and I am working on the plan Sinisa mentioned right now. Keep us posted and best of luck.

@Lillian: Thank you : Going to check the WHO info.

I agree with what I think is Jean-Pierre's sentiment of the joys of building something from scratch. However, the phrase "re-inventing the wheel" doesn't fully capture the right metaphor. By itself, it is used as a cliche for something that is a waste of time, which is not what we want to say.

However, I am sure that building a wagon with a wheel and axle with your own hands is a challenging and rewarding experience. Although the wheel has already been invented, constructing your own wagon, without too much friction and without the wheels coming off, will help you learn more about how wheels work than any amount of reading or listening to lectures. You don't need to reinvent the wheel (or a university), but building one of your own would be worthwhile.

So not only would creating a school or small university be a rewarding experience for Alessandro (or any of us), but enabling the students to help build the university would be educational and rewarding for them as well. Come to think of it, a student-built university might be like a new and different kind of axle.

Yes. I agree. Check this out http://www.workcolleges.org/ and see how students at these institutions are doing just that James and all. It is one of the best kept secrets and I hope to adapt that model when I build the university of my dreams in the developing world. No. I am not their spokesperson but I was so impressed when I visited Berea, College of the Ozarks and two other institutions that I knew I was gonna build one when I walked away. And I am getting closer. So good luck, Diana.

Thank you, Lillian. That looks like a good model.

@Lillian: thank you even I did not get the concept all in once, www.workcolleges.com seems very interesting and worth to read all the section.

I would suggest that if you want to start a university from scratch you need to identify some old and ineffective professors who have trouble interacting with average people and then give them each a budget of $10,000,000 without offering them any guidance on how to manage people or finances. Then hire a few secretaries on low salaries and let them get on with managing the whole enterprise. That seems to be the current model and it is working soooooo well.

Diana, to keep the costs of running the institution low, the students work at the university. The faculty serve as supervisors in some instances professionals are hired but the students run the campus with minimal guidance. They of course pay no or reduced tuition but they learn important skills like teamwork, leadership, strong work ethic, etc. you get the idea. These experiences are noted on their transcripts and actually work college students are highly sought after by employers and grad schools. A few of them have industries they run and supply products locally and internationally. This is the model I am planning to use. Erik's model sounds interesting only if you are the ineffective professor.

@Erik: Thank you! $10'000'000 : Woooow!

@Lilian: in your plan how many "faculties" are involved? more than 1?

Check this out: http://www.cofo.edu/Page/About-C-of-O.14.html ( I think they should pay me for marketing for them)

Dear Lillian the mentioned adressed always mentions: Error xyz...

Is this the right adress?

Thank you

Dear Alessandro, you may be interested to know that Nalanda University is being rebuilt from scratch, led by Nobel laureate and ex master of Trinity College Cambridge, Amartya Sen. Nalanda was destroyed by invaders in 1193, but had been established for centuries before that (mainly on Buddhist principles) ie predating Bologna, Oxford and Cambridge. Reference: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22160989

Wow .. that is a very involved question, with so many variables that it is impossible to give a specific answer. The perhaps most important thing is to do the appropriate due diligence before doing anything - location specifics, market, industry needs, research needs, etc ... . Without that, you cant even start defining the to be formed institution and its necessary characteristics. The University needs to address the demand and be built and structured accordingly; if built on some vision that is detached from reality it will be doomed to fail.

Most of the comments so far deals with the practical next steps and there are many good suggestions. However, perhaps the first steps should be the identification of the students served by the new establishment, and subequently thinking why and how they are best served.

That, dear Anthony, is the argument that touched me most. I myself have founded several institutions and seen others that could not successfully be started. My knowledge of retrospective sight is that you must always address two common goals: 1 You have to have a special but moving philosophy of innovation and 2nd you have to know that you can find students who in their personal life can respond to this goal. Other strategies are not useful. A university that represents only national interest, could only be educational institution of the and in the country. That can cause easier. An institution that represents 'life sciences', for example, but can also exist long after the founding. It is open to changes in the study image. However, it is important to encourage students with a study destination that provides vocational qualifications. Only then it makes sense to found an institution (eg University).

Dear Anthony

For the leaders in Institutions

By Thomas Derale

Each employee has his destiny and his Big Five for live know, so know which five goals he wants to achieve in life necessarily.

We should know how important it is for us to find our own purpose of existence. Not only every man has his own ZDE, that goes for every company and every party. This should MATCH!

It should be in a party or company can participate only people who are not only intelligent and competent, but also motivated.

You should have the greatest motivation. People whose personal existence with the purpose of ZDE of the company, harmonized for the party they want to work.

You can create a party or company in two ways and lead.

One can for example start with a proven business model (see past and present in our political landscape) and provide it with adequate resources and bonuses, so people are willing to work for the company party.

If you do that you can be successful.

Most companies, parties are created in this way and out.

But if you want to be particularly successful, one must proceed the other way around.

One begins with the ultimate job incentive.

It offers people the opportunity to earn their money with an activity that they met and that really makes sense for them because it is related to their personal purpose of existence.

Only then made of the most successful business models exploit.

When people in leadership positions do not help their employees going to realize their Big Five for live, what they really do? Basically, they take the lives of people in exchange for money.

How many managers would probably like to think about their lives and recognizing that they can earn a lot of money to help others in the performance of her life as she had earned a lot of money, in reality, a lot of people to wear?

First of all it is necessary to determine for whom the university is created and what are the objectives of its establishment.

Agree, Vladimir. One of the objectives of some new "private" universities potentially includes making profit for the stakeholders, which includes global private equity companies. In the UK this includes the University of Law, established recently, the University of Buckingham and BPP University, itself partly owned by the US company Apollo Global, which also runs Western International University in Phoenix Arizona and Universidad Latinoamericana in México City, Morelos, Cuernavaca and Tlanepantla and the University for the Arts, Sciences, and Communication in Santiago, Chile.

Hello all,

A University is a Project in which  polical, economical and cultural Backgrounds should be considered, Obectives, inspired from these backgrounds should incorporate new key components that predict  better and successfull issues, in line with changing realities. Material and Methods should be clearly established making anticipated results achievable. The university should maintain a strong incentive to innovate. 

For public institution, first an external assessment must be conducted such as political, economic, social, ecological, technological and legal issues after which an internal assessment must be conducted to determine other factors needed for the establishment of a college. However for private institution the owner foresee already there is profit in it.