Message From Walter P. Drake, Founder
Updated January 2026
Welcome to Blue Marble University, where world class online virtual education continues to be developed. Thank you for visiting! We are now serving students on 5 continents, still missing South America and Antarctica. Here is what I am thinking about for you, as we open a new year.
(1) Bachelor Degrees are neither needed nor relevant anymore…
at least the old style ones that are still being offered in the U.S.
In less than 5 years, the traditional 120 credit bachelor degree, including its 60 general education credits (20 courses), will be gone.
You will be wasting your money to undertake this kind of degree now. You are already seeing many stories about how expensive Bachelor Degrees do not lead to any jobs. Employers don’t need or want applicants with Bachelor degrees composed of 60 credits (50%) “General Education Credits”. This is totally worthless in my opinion and has been worthless for a long time.
Do you know why universities and colleges continue to offer the General Education pablum? Accreditors. They run education in the United States, and also ruin it! Colleges cannot offer the courses or programs they want to, because the Accreditation Industry mandates that there be 60 credits of “general education courses” for an “accredited degree”!!!!
But here are the Blue Marble University solutions:
(A) We previously made two very big changes to our Bachelor Degree Programs… TIME and COST:
(1) We shortened the full 120 credit traditional program down to 2 years 8 months!
(2) And we have the LOWEST cost around: $2950 USD/year, a total of $8,850 USD for your degree including all texts and learning materials!!
Turbocharge Your Future
With Accelerated Blue Marble University Bachelor Degrees
2 Years 8 Months, Tuition $2950/Year
So, if you still feel you need a Bachelor Degree to check off some box, this is the fastest and cheapest way to get there.
(B) AI Based- Bachelor Degree with “No General Education Requirements”… B.S. AI Applications
Designed by and implemented via AI, our newest groundbreaking Bachelor of Science degree is solely AI based, immerses you in AI, and certifies you in AI applications. Even students with liberal arts and humanities interests will find this degree really really useful since we allow specializations in any field of endeavor, including business applications, as well as many bio-medical and science based applications.
We teach to what employers want…and they don’t need you to take an English class, they need you to know how to use and implement and develop AI for their business! You know I am right and I just put into words what you already intuitively know.
Under development now, we will be able to roll out this amazing new AI based education by our next Start Date May 1, 2026. A really different type of education for the AI world we now have.
(2) Universities are no longer the repositories of learning..
Access to AI Is
The very first organization of books and learned works were held by the early monks in various monasteries around the world. Here is a picture of the manuscripts and books in St. Catherine’s Monastery (Sinai), established by Emperor Justinian around 565 AD, being one of the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monasteries:
Then came the “universities” such as University of al-Qarawiyyin (859 AD): Founded by Fatima al-Fihri, it started as a mosque and madrasa, evolving into a leading center for spiritual and educational learning in the Islamic world. Followed by University of Bologna (1088 AD), the oldest in Europe and the “mother of universities,” it formalized the concept of a university (a community of teachers and students) and introduced degrees, shaping the global higher education model. Also credited as the oldest medical school teaching from ~1200 AD, known for systematic dissection.
From these early times to now, universities have been considered to be the repositories of knowledge.
With Artificial Intelligence, the university monopoly on knowledge is now OVER! The motto of the famous Khan Academy is “Anyone Can Learn Anything”. Nothing is more truer than today. With AI one can in fact learn anything about any topic. You Tube videos showing how to do this or that abound. One can become really really smart with no “college” whatsoever now.
Blue Marble University is now redeveloping all curricula to train to AI. Regardless of what Master’s or Doctoral program you might be interested in, all courses are going to be developed by AI, and implemented via AI. This is the future for Blue Marble University, and it is happening NOW. In addition to our degrees, will be the issuance of “Certifications in AI Applications” for this or that field.
Blue Marble University…The AI University
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Our History:
For those that might be interested, we started out in Thailand around 2005 with some volunteers, mostly retired US and Thai professionals, who wanted to create something new… A computer based educational experience that could be really cheap, when divested of all the legacy trappings of higher education, building costs and the like, which were weighing down education for working adults at that time. Professional doctorate degrees that spoke to careers, not just education for education sake, nor for the sole benefit of educators.
And we also wanted to correct that statistic that only 60% of graduate students who entered a PhD graduate school actually graduated with their degree. Those of you in the 40% group that did not obtain your PhD degree due to some snafu at your dissertation stage know what I mean.
In creating Blue Marble University, I took great inspiration from Steve Jobs 2005 Commencement Address at Stanford University, and particularly this advice: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other peoples’ thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.” I took that to heart, and started Blue Marble University with a blank sheet of paper and thought about what I would do to create the very best virtual university. Perhaps you readers might find some inspiration from that speech as well:
Many Doctoral programs are many times not relevant to anything. As an example, I trained for 3 years in the PhD degree program of the Department of Biology at Johns Hopkins University. At that time (and no doubt presently as well) most of my companion graduate students needed 6 years minimum to complete the program, the dissertation work itself consuming 2-4 or more years. And what do you get out of that? You have done research in a very narrow area that is likely to have no use whatsoever upon graduation. In my case, I was trained in bacteria and bacterial virus models. But when I left Hopkins and was hired as a Research Chemist by the National Cancer Institute, I worked entirely on mouse models. I had never seen a laboratory mouse before. And I never used any one piece of equipment that I was trained on at Hopkins. The point being, everyone is trained on the job, and that is true whether you end up in an academic, research, or corporate environment. Therefore all that is needed, particularly with respect to an advanced degree, is general cross-disciplinary training rather than rigorous training in a narrow field.
And I was not alone in my thinking as shown by this excerpt from “A time for change in the PhD system”, by Deborah Braconnier, at Physorg.com:
“According to Mark Taylor, the system for PhDs needs to be reformed or shut down. Universities are promoting their PhD programs in order to have the graduate students in the laboratories and as teaching assistants. This works as a benefit to the universities, but in the end provides no benefit to the graduate. The PhD programs have become too specialized in subfields and many find they are unable to talk to colleagues in the same general department because their knowledge is too specialized. Taylor believes that in order for doctoral programs to keep up with the 21st century, they need to eliminate these specializations and move towards more cross-disciplinary knowledge.”
My goals for Blue Marble University were first to be affordable (and I mean CHEAP); second to offer exciting new programs without the constraints of worn out pedagogy; and third, offer the programs totally online via a virtual university, so that students may attend to other experiences such as travel, internships, employment, hobbies or other interests. It’s a big world out there when you haven’t seen any of it.
So, we started out in 2005 with our first offering, our flagship 3 year online Ph.D. degree in Stem Cell Biology, administered by the Panama College Cell Science. The College was folded into Blue Marble University around 2010 and remains a separate school within the University. About 5 years later, we began developing the Blue Marble University 3 year online doctoral programs in about 12 academic fields which culminated in our most recent and very popular executive style Doctor of Medicine program.
Two of Our Unique Programs
And along the way, we fixed the Dissertation problems experienced in other institutions by giving people who had already completed doctoral programs, except for dissertation, a way forward to complete their Ph.D.’s. At Blue Marble University we make sure all all dissertations are completed within a set time…AND…published as well. We see to it!
Finally, I would have to say that none of this would have happened but for my chance meeting and association with Kelli Miller, PhD of Canton, Georgia (USA).
Kelli received a Masters of Education degree in Adult Education and Administration from Jones International University, the only accredited virtual university in the USA (and the only one that will ever be accredited…but that is another story). And she obtained her Doctor of Philosophy degree specializing in the Challenges of Non-traditional Adult Learners from Capella University. Kelli really understands the virtual university learning environment and how online students need to be mentored. Dr. Miller is a talented, innovative educator, that has provided enthusiastic support for the Blue Marble model throughout the development stages.
A lot has been accomplished in our 20+ years of development. Blue Marble University doctoral programs are well respected and many fine students as well as professionals have taken our programs. We so much appreciate graduate reviews like this one from Jeanne Stork, from our “D.Sc. Instructional Design and Technology” program: Jeanne Stork Review of Instructional Design and Technology DSc
Please review our exciting new programs and the cutting edge degrees that we offer. And come join us as we explore new pathways toward fulfilling, useful, and affordable education.
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Walter P. Drake, JD, PhD
(Thailand circa 2005)
Dr. Drake’s background is in biomedical science and law. He is developing Blue Marble University to be a highly regarded virtual university offering new and unique programs internationally at a modest cost, with delivery of the educational content solely online. He serves as Director of Blue Marble University. Click HERE for the CV: Walter P Drake CV 2025
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