Feature: ‘Something new in freedom’

Feature: ‘Something new in freedom’
The free university movement is growing. Across the UK, a new generation of cooperative and non-fee-charging institutions are springing up with the aim of creating an alternative model of university education. And they are evolving: there is a shift away from temporary zones of opposition and towards “institution-building”. Sustaining Alternative Universities, a conference held in Oxford last year, brought together people from across the country who want to build on the movement’s momentum. As Tim Huzar of Free University Brighton told one national newspaper: “It’s important to realise an alternative and demonstrate it.” He continued: “It isn’t just a political act. It’s a real service.” It is a sentiment being echoed elsewhere, from the Ragged University project active in Edinburgh and Glasgow to Cardiff People’s University to the Free University of Liverpool, which now offers a non-credit bearing foundation degree in culture and performance and a BA in cultural praxis.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/features/feature-something-new-in-freedom/2003930.article