Richard Branson has introduced an online university geared toward teaching dyslexic thinking skills.
The University of Dyslexic Thinking, which the billionaire Virgin Group founder collaborated with the charity Made by Dyslexia to create, officially went live on Tuesday.
Branson said in a blog post that DyslexicU was seeking to provide free educational courses focused on dyslexic thinking skills that he said are “more valuable than ever before,” particularly in the workforce.
Branson has been an advocate and discussed his own experiences with dyslexia over the years.
“I think dyslexia was a blessing in disguise for myself, and I think actually that dyslexia is a blessing in disguise for all dyslexics, even if they don’t realize it when they may be struggling at school,” he told LinkedIn’s Daniel Roth last year.
“When I was at school, I would sit in the back of the class, I would not understand particularly what was going on on the blackboard and, therefore, I spent the time plotting and planning a magazine at the back of the class and started concentrating on things I was interested in rather than the things that the school thought I should be interested in, and ended up leaving school as a 15-, 16-year old to fulfill my education by actually running a magazine,” he said in that interview.
That magazine provided a jumping off point for Branson’s long business career. The founder of Virgin Group has amassed a fortune of $2.7 billion as of Tuesday thanks to his ventures, Forbes estimated.
Two lessons — one focused on entrepreneurship and another on activism — launched alongside the initiative. Others on topics such music, storytelling and sports are also in the pipeline for DyslexicU.
“The courses are for anyone, at any stage of life; you might be a dyslexic looking to learn more about your Dyslexic Thinking skills and apply them to different industries, or someone who isn’t dyslexic but is curious to understand how this kind of thinking works in action, and why these skills are more valuable than ever before,” he wrote.
The lessons will be “taught by the world’s most extraordinary dyslexic minds,” according to Made by Dyslexia.
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On multiple occasions, Branson has said dyslexic thinking skills significantly helped him achieve success.
Approximately 20% of people around the world live with dyslexia, according to the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity.
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