Shai Reshef

Shai Reshef is an Israeli self-described entrepreneur who created a virtual "University of the People" and, by using a hidden PO box in California, claims the PO box to be an American university. After facing issues with the Israeli education system, Reshef sold his previous for-profit school to Kaplan and shifted to a different business model, presenting uopeople.edu as "tuition-free" while requiring students to pay "administrative fees" that can amount to several thousand dollars. It's like a politician claiming to have eliminated taxes by simply renaming them as "fees": technically, people are no longer paying "taxes", but they are still paying the same amount under a different name ("fees"). This marketing stunt, combined with misleading online advertising, massive spam campaigns, and sponsored press releases, allows Reshef to promote himself as a philanthropist and visionary, usually in paid promotional articles. It remains unclear how a basic WordPress website—lacking real faculty, a real address, a real phone number, or any essential academic infrastructure—can be considered a "university". However, one thing is certain: this online scheme is highly profitable for Reshef. More importantly, by securing "nonprofit" status in the U.S., UoPeople avoids taxes—but not in Israel, where the business is actually located. This deception misleads customers in Palestine and other countries, who have no idea they are sending money to Israel. Reshef's entire net worth is essentially built on UoPeople's revenues.

To buy the online degrees issued by Reshef's University of the People, all you need to do is copy-paste random responses generated by ChatGPT 3.5 or other free AI services. This is how Reshef's "students" write essays, solve math problems, and complete assignments. This simple mechanism allows Reshef to mass-produce and sell thousands of online degrees, especially in Africa, generating substantial profits with minimal effort.

UoPeople.edu states that Shai Reshef is "an expert on the intersection of education and technology", although he has never studied education or technology. His concept of "education" is simply an offshore diploma mill with no faculty, no teachers, and no professors. His concept of "technology" is an amateur WordPress template that anyone can buy online for $10. Indeed, from a technical standpoint, all of Reshef's websites are amateurish and managed by a person with no expertise in cybersecurity. Not surprisingly, the University of the People has suffered multiple data breaches, never managing to understand the nature of the problem. Funnily, the University of the People keeps selling degrees in "computer science", despite lacking any expertise in computer science and being constantly hit by simple hacking attacks.

In the same page, Shai Reshef uploaded a picture claiming that "Pope Francis praises University of the People". However, the image only shows the Pope shaking hands with Reshef—something that happens whenever anyone approaches the Pope and asks for a handshake, such as after a Papal audience or Mass. Claiming that this simple handshake equates to Pope Francis "praising" University of the People is completely ridiculous. The Pope has no idea what University of the People is, and the official Vatican network (vatican.va) never mentions Shai Reshef or UoPeople. Reshef is no stranger to exploiting misleading images. He previously uploaded a picture on Wikipedia featuring himself alongside an alleged "professor" at uopeople.edu. However, the individual in the image has never taught at uopeople.edu, nor has he ever even logged into the website. Not only is this false advertising, but there is more deception involved: the image itself is a photo montage, and the background is a free wallpaper available online. Given Reshef's history of using doctored images, one can only wonder whether the photo with the Pope is even real.

In a TED Talk that has been heavily advertised on YouTube, Shai Reshef claims that "The university is partnered with Yale Law School for research and NYU and University of California Berkeley to accept top students." However, this is not true, as we have already demonstrated in the main UoPeople review. This long misleading commercial, disguised as a TED Talk, continues to be promoted on YouTube, misleading viewers into believing UoPeople has partnerships with prestigious institutions. What's worse, Reshef also profits from YouTube advertising revenue, further monetizing his false claims.

Curiously, Shai Reshef also sells unaccredited degrees in Gaza. On the surface, there may be nothing inherently wrong with offering degrees in Gaza, but in this case, there is a serious issue: Reshef's organization is based in Israel, yet he deliberately hides this fact. Rather than acknowledging that UoPeople is an Israeli-run entity, Reshef falsely presents the "University of the People" as an Arab school, and raises money in Gaza to finance Israel! Not only is this deceptive and unethical, but it is also completely ridiculous. Visit UoPeople in Arabic and see for yourself.

Do you want to email Shai Reshef? Unfortunately, Reshef's email address is fake: the people who actually respond are underpaid online workers located in Africa or Asia.

All in all, we congratulate Mr. Reshef on his remarkable achievements in eliminating poverty across Africa, Asia, Central America, and South America, as well as on building countless necessary schools for the poor, just like a true philanthropist. Thanks to his efforts, children and young people without internet access, who desperately need real schools instead of being sent to work in mines, have now found a perfect solution. Shai Reshef resolved all their problems, by ripping them off and asking them for money. Congratulations again.

Fake Nobel Prize

In November 2023, the University of the People announced that "Mr. Reshef received the Nobel Prize in Education for being the best educator in the world." Yes, this is exactly what their email stated: Nobel Prize. Later, they reworded the statement, claiming that "It's the world's highest education accolade referred to as the Nobel Prize of Education." Once again: Nobel Prize.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a Nobel Prize in Education. This is yet another misleading marketing stunt from University of the People and Shai Reshef. We wonder why they continue to insult our intelligence.

In other words, Reshef bought a ridiculous "Yidan Prize", which is falsely advertised as a "Nobel Prize" without the Nobel Foundation's permission, just to flood the internet with more misleading spam. Are we surprised? Not at all. This is exactly what he has been doing for years.

© 2016-2025 Global Watch on the University of the People Official website