Democracy and the Co-operative University

Join Mike Neary from the University of Lincoln to hear more about how higher education can play a part in creating a post-capitalist society

About the event

The Co-operative College, Manchester, has applied for degree awarding powers from the Office for Students, taking advantage of the Higher Education Research Act 2017 call to establish ‘challenger institutions’. The plan is to establish a federation of independent higher education co-operatives around the UK, supported by the Co-operative College. This federation will become the Co-operative University.

A co-operative is an autonomous enterprise owned and ran democratically by its members, in this case students and academics, for their benefit and for society as a whole. Mike Neary, a founder member of the co-operative university project, will explain how the idea for a co-operative university emerged from inside a neo-liberal English university, through the concept and practice of Student as Producer.

Student as Producer works on three levels: as a form of democratic pedagogy in the classroom, as an organising principle to democratise HE institutions and as part of a project to reclaim the university as a radical political project. Mike will pose the question: is it possible to make existing English universities more democratic or do we have to create a new type of democratic institution for higher learning?

Speaker biography

Mike Neary is Emeritus Professor of Sociology in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Lincoln.

He was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy in 2007 and in 2016 became a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. The Students’ Union at Lincoln granted him honorary life membership in 2014 for his work with students.

Mike's main research interest is the future of universities and the role of higher education in creating a post-capitalist society. He is the Chair of the Interim Academic Board tasked by the Co-operative College, Manchester, to establish co-operative higher education in the UK.

Attending this event

There is no need to register for this free talk; just come along to 1/16 at 12pm.