Ubiquity University

The original iteration of Ubiquity University was founded in Oakland, CA in 1996 by Matthew Fox, PhD, a world-renowned educator and writer, as a non-profit graduate school called the University of Creation Spirituality licensed by the California Bureau of Private and Postsecondary Education (BPPE). What distinguished the school was its innovative combination of intellectual and artistic learning in which all students were required to engage in equal measure to balance the left and right hemispheres of the brain and thereby engage in integrated learning. Jim Garrison, PhD, was recruited as president in 2005, renaming the school Wisdom University to broaden its scope and pedagogy. He has led the development of the university since then with a mission to create a truly global learning community based on holistic learning aligned with the larger ecology and natural systems of the Earth.

In June, 2012, the university went through a major transition in order to keep pace with the dramatic changes occurring in education. Ubiquity University was established as a for-profit Social Benefit Corporation and technology platform company, paving the way for global expansion and new forms of learning and strategic partnerships. The vision was to create a global learning community that would pioneer holistic education comprised of knowledge, personal development and social action — integrating head, heart and hands into a new form of learning (UbiSkills). There was also a vision to pioneer competency learning, assessment and credentialing in the creation of a global “competency passport” (UbiPass) and to create a technology platform that would enable collaborative online learning and community building for students and participating organizations (UbiVerse). These three commitments — UbiSills, UbiPass and UbiVerse — have provided the framework for Ubiquity’s global development.

To create Ubiquity University, the for-profit social benefit corporation (B Corp) set up in 2012 acquired Wisdom University in 2013. This acquisition conformed with all the rules and regulations mandated by the BPPE and the Attorney General’s Office of California. What was Wisdom University became the Wisdom School of Graduate Studies within Ubiquity University. The Wisdom School continues to offer Masters and Doctoral degrees as the university has done since 1996 and to curate a range of courses in wisdom studies. At the center of the Wisdom School is the Chartres Academy located in Chartres, France which offers courses on the seven classical liberal arts and the great wisdom teachings of the world spiritual traditions, emphasizing the imperative for humanity to harmonize with the larger ecosystem of planetary life.

Ubiquity expanded into a global arena, receiving accreditation from the Accreditation Service for International Colleges and Universities in the UK. The university began its Business to Business strategy in order to develop strategic partnerships with global institutions such as AIESEC, the largest student-run organization in the world, and began to focus on expanding into Asia, initially in Sri Lanka with the Ministry of Education to provide training in Soft Skills and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Pioneering work continued to develop our competency-based UbiPass and to build an innovative social platform for changemakers, our UbiVerse.

Ubiquity has grown and now serves students from around the world through a range of courses, programs, and degrees as a truly global educational institution. The three pillars upon which the university was founded — UbiSkills, UbiPass, and UbiVerse — continue to shape the strategic direction and generation of revenue. Strategic partnerships have been formed in dozens of countries with a range of partners. In 2020, Ubiquity launched Humanity Rising with over 300 partnering organizations which convenes live daily broadcasts on Zoom plus partner channels to 15,000 – 20,000 viewers in over 130 countries. Through these partnerships and Humanity Rising, Ubiquity’s brand, courses, and programs operate worldwide. The university concluded its accreditation with ASIC in 2020 and is now accredited by the Global Accreditation Council based in the Hague. The Global Accreditation Council represents a new form of accreditation, the first ever to include ecological and social justice criteria as part of the accreditation process.