Is Sebastian Thrun's udacity the future of higher education?

Sebastian Thrun, Google's vice president and pioneer in artificial intelligence and robotics. Known in science circles for his engineering feats - like Stanley, the self-driving car - Thrun is using his technological prowess to make quality higher education available to the world.

Explanation:

Thrun lamented that his course could only reach 200 students in the suburbs of Palo Alto. So, he decided to offer his own free online class, with the same homework, quizzes and tests that he gives to Stanford students.

He announced the proposal with a single e-mail. Before he knew it, he had a flood of takers. "Usually I reach about 200 students and now I reach 160,000," said Thrun incredulously. "In my entire life of education I didn't have as much an impact on people as I had in these two months."

By utilizing online videos and educational resources, Thrun's class was being accessed by students from all corners of the world. In fact, the students themselves translated the class for free from English into 44 languages.

Until now, an overwhelming number of these students - many in developing countries and lacking standard education credentials - never would have had a chance at a Stanford-level education. Yet, their appetite for quality education was strong.

In fact, of all the students taking Thrun's class globally and at Stanford, the top 410 students were online. The 411th top performer was a Stanford student. "We just found over 400 people in the world who outperformed the top Stanford student," Thrun said.