The Micro-University

see our manifesto | vision | keywords

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(''See a longhand draft version of this document)

(1) The Long-term Global Context

Like it or not, the big backdrop for this modest proposal is the global metacrisis, which poses a cluster of challenges that are intricately intertwined and non-trivial. Indeed it is hard to see how we might find the requisite solution/s without understanding the prevailing paradigm then radically re-shaping it. One of the more powerful levers for change is re-languaging the way we see the world. At the structural level we can initiate this process by re-designing the education system. This project's ultimate aim is therefore to re-purpose the University as an agent for change. This long-term ambition finds accord with UNESCO’s global strategy which has already identified this as a viable approach.

(2) The Immediate Context

A recent report predicts that, over the next 5 years, one in six 16-24 year olds are likely to become 'NEETS' (neither in training, further education or job-seeking)*. The report attributes this partly to the way we educate young people. Given the financial strain that universities are currently experiencing it is ironic that the UK government sees their purpose primarily as a lever for 'economic growth' (*) rather than as an agent for the long-term survival of our species. The more we venerate GDP as the font of human wellbeing the less we may notice the untapped assets, synergies and opportunities that are latent in low-income artists, carers, allotment tenants and volunteers.

(3) So what is the purpose of education?

If universities are to deliver more imaginative opportunities and longer-term foresight they will need to encourage more eccentricity and heresy. We believe the New University should therefore be exception-seeking, open, hands-on, far-sighted, radical & entredonneurial. This is not such a new idea. Alexander von Humboldt's memorandum of 1810 argued that State interference in academic research would impair the wholeness and integrity of cross-disciplinary learning and what he called ‘self-cultivation’ (German: Bildung). c.f. Elton, 2008).

(4) The Plan

We aim to launch a year-long experiment in education. We will recruit learners aged between 16 and 29 and offer a foundation course without fees. Individual learners will work within small, co-creative learning teams in which they learn to contribute to and benefit from each other's passions and aspirations. They will also use a well established learning framework to help them navigate their situation in a way that adapts to their aspirations, identity and employment context. As the system foregrounds relationships rather than facts it encourages creative enterprise and makes plagiarism irrelevant.

(5) Two Cultures

The modern university incorporates several traditions of knowledge. The dominant model derives from the truth-seeking and scholastic types of reasoning that evolved within the mediaeval monasteries. This informed the quest for fact-based generalities and evidence-based reasoning that shaped today's scientific methodology. By contrast the art school tradition derives more from the atelier-based, 'hands-on' system developed within the mediaeval Crafts Guilds. This helped to validate the pursuit of personal and creative innovation and the valuing of exceptions rather than dependable rules. We need to find new synergies that straddle these traditions of learning.

(6) 100% Human Ingenuity

ChatGPT versus Gradescope

Until recently, most of our political leaders were products of a classical education. They were steeped in the fact-based logic of history, philosophy and in the ancient arts of rhetoric and debate. Many had been taught the dogmas of macroeconomic theory but had not acquired the creative skills to reinvent radical alternatives. The system seemed viable when politics was characterised by codes of decency, ballot boxes and the rules of law. Today, however, a few authoritarian leaders and tech oligarchs are 'gaming the system' by using military tools adapted for the 'attention economy'. These tools are influencing, or contaminating, the human values that underpin social relationships, how we learn, and what we mean by 'learning', 'education', 'qualifications' and 'learning'.

(7) Re-languaging Learning

We need to co-invent a more nuanced academic language that distinguishes between purposeful learning and the outward appearance of learning. In the current parlance of the digital market place, 'being intelligent' is often conflated with 'being smart' and 'knowledge' may simply refer to 'information' and 'information' may simply mean 'data'. In English we even lack a clear differentiation between declarative and procedural types of knowledge (e.g. 'savoir' and 'connaitre'). This may help to explain why administrators sometimes assign equal value to live seminars and online lectures. Without a more sophisticated metadiscourse, 'unthinkable possibles' are likely to be overlooked. Moreover, what does not make sense in today's vernacular may be dismissed as unattainable. Many lecturers have already become impotent umpires in an arms race between the simulators of learning and the bots designed to hunt them down. And, unless universities acquire a longer-term vision and purpose they will simply become 'training administrators' rather than 'educators'.

(8) The Myth of Genius

There are political and pragmatic reasons why universities should develop new methods of co-creativity. Enlightenment thinkers created a new excuse for exceptionalism when they popularised the idea that creativity is the exclusive hallmark of an exceptional individual. In today's competition between egalitarianism and strong leadership, a claim to genius can easily be harnessed as a bid for status and power. It is therefore useful to those who crave power without accountability. However, some research into (creative) 'genius' suggests that it naturally exists in pre-school children, but is steadily depleted by rigorous testing and specialist teaching that is standardised for reasons of 'fairness' over relevance.

(9) Reclaiming 'Wisdom'

Part of our long-term mission will be to reinvent the term wisdom beyond its narrow, humanistic definition. We will therefore encourage our learners to reclaim, augment and re-purpose the term as part of their contribution to global healing. We will start by acknowledging that learning takes place in the heart, hand and humour as well as in the head. For individual learners this will mean developing their metacognitive sense of who they are, what they know, don't know and cannot know. It will mean encouraging learners to apply critical skills of reasoning to their lived experiences and ethical views. It will mean valuing the tacit skills of knowing, sensing, doing and making as aspects of one's judgment that build a sense of moral compass. We will encourage playfulness and humour as a way to embrace failure as a vehicle for unexpected opportunities and fun. We will conduct immersive experiments in ecological awareness or set philosophical quests for 'unthinkable possibles'. We will value compassion and altruism whilst helping learners to prepare for paid employment.

• (see a longer article about creativity and Art Schools)

(10) A learner-centred overview

• What is it? - an experimental part-time foundation course
• Who is it for? - normally 16-to-29 year olds living around London
• What's its point? - using your creative potential for opportunity-finding
• What would I learn? - to understand who you are and who you want to be
• How would I learn this? - you will work in mutually supportive learning teams
• Who designs the syllabus? - study themes will not be fixed by a rigid syllabus
• Where would it be located? - we will work in different locations across London?
• How much would it cost me? - you deposit £250 (100% repayable on completion)
• When will the course take place? - most weeks (e.g. Saturdays) throughout 2026-7
• What about my specialist knowledge? - we aim to think outside the specialist disciplines

(11) Free Radicals

• Our aim is to help you - to think more creatively
• Our aim is to help you - to manage your curiosity
• Our aim is to help you - to learn how to learn better
• Our aim is to help you - to manage career ambitions
• Our aim is to help you - to redefine wisdom in your own way
• Our aim is to help you - to think beyond disciplinary boundaries.
• Our aim is to help you - to contribute to the survival of our species
• Our aim is to help you - to value learning via the Head (e.g. critical thinking)
• Our aim is to help you - to value learning via the Hand (e.g. manual skills / dance)
• Our aim is to help you - to value learning via the Heart (e.g. emotional understanding)
• Our aim is to help youto value learning with Humour (e.g. ability to play / make mistakes)
• Our aim is to help you - to re-shape your professional identity in a joined-up/self-aware way

(12) Potential Resources