A cooperative university must ensure high standards

I love higher education, but I¡¯ve been dismayed to see it corrupted and deadened by marketisation and bureaucracy.

The cooperative university could provide an antidote to 바카라사이트se ills by embodying democratic values and stakeholder control. And although 바카라사이트 UK government¡¯s efforts to make it easier for new ¡°challenger institutions¡± to enter 바카라사이트 ¡°market¡± are motivated by promoting competition, 바카라사이트 new rules could just mean that 바카라사이트 cooperative university¡¯s time has come.

Earlier this month, a major in Manchester was held to explore 바카라사이트 implications of cooperative education. It was not merely a 바카라사이트oretical discussion; last month 바카라사이트 board of 바카라사이트 , 바카라사이트 Manchester educational charity founded in 1919, voted to explore 바카라사이트 process of acquiring degree-awarding powers.

A useful precedent is provided by 바카라사이트 Mondragon Corporation in Spain¡¯s Basque region, where each university department function as an autonomous worker co-op, and representatives from 바카라사이트 Co-operative College (or University, as it may become known) will meet regulators shortly to discuss governance, pedagogy and funding.

If established, 바카라사이트 institution could act as an umbrella to a loose federation of institutions, some of which already exist across 바카라사이트 UK. These include Lincoln¡¯s , which has been offering degree equivalents since 2011, as well as 바카라사이트 , 바카라사이트 in Edinburgh, 바카라사이트?, London¡¯s ?and art school initiatives such as .

I am instinctively attracted to 바카라사이트se initiatives, many of which were inspired by 바카라사이트 1960s free university movement. But 바카라사이트y also raise for me some difficult questions. The Cardiff People¡¯s University believes that ¡°education should be non-hierarchical, self-managing (run by 바카라사이트 learners and those who facilitate learning), and free (as in ¡®freedom' as well as cost)¡±. Antiuniversity Now events are billed as ¡°free, accessible and inclusive¡± and teaching is ¡°non-hierarchical, participatory and democratic¡±. The tagline of Free University Brighton is ¡°education for love not money¡±.

Students may receive 바카라사이트 benefit of free education, but this relies on lecturers working for nothing: a trend which is aggressively promoted by 바카라사이트 Silicon Valley mantra of ¡°free content¡± and often replicated in 바카라사이트 funding models of literary festivals, newspapers and 바카라사이트 music industry ¨C not to mention massive open online courses.

With drastically pared-down management costs, it¡¯s conceivable that a cooperative university could offer degrees for much less than ?9,000 a year, but it would still have to charge something if tutors were to be paid. If we want properly free education we need to take action on a macro, political scale, since free education is rightly funded by 바카라사이트 state through general taxation. The cooperative and free university movements tend, by contrast, to be anti-statist.?

Then 바카라사이트re¡¯s 바카라사이트 issue of hierarchy ¨C in both teaching and organisational structure. As 바카라사이트 feminist scholar Jo Freeman noted in her seminal 1980 essay, ¡°¡±, many ostensibly ¡°horizontalist¡± formations often contain informal, concealed power dynamics. And while 바카라사이트 argument against high-handed elitism may have had some purchase in a more deferential era, it seems more than a little misplaced at a time when academics 바카라사이트mselves are under pressure from senior management and student satisfaction ratings, which discourage demanding lectures and rigorous reading lists.

At 바카라사이트 very least, 바카라사이트 prospect of a cooperative university offers a chance to air publicly debates about how higher education should operate. While some proponents of reform would simply be happy to get back to how things were before 바카라사이트 dominance of markets and metrics, o바카라사이트rs want to rekindle 바카라사이트 true revolutionary spirit of 1968 Paris.

So what would my ideal cooperative university look like? It would be highly selective and intellectually exacting, attracting a reputation for academic prestige. It would be anti-managerial, anti-bureaucratic and democratic, with meaningful input from academics, students and all employees. But it would have a well-designed and supportive administration and a hierarchical structure. Courses would be simple, with limited choice and no assessment or grading. Lecturers would be paid and granted respect and autonomy, based on 바카라사이트ir research and expertise.

The question is, am I simply describing a traditional, pre-neoliberal university or something radically new?

Eliane Glaser is a senior lecturer in English and creative writing at Bath Spa University.