Welcome to the Civil Society University website

This website invites you to participate in the creation of a new university, one that reflects the diversity of civil society, promotes understanding of the values and issues that preoccupy its activists and organisations, and raises their capacity to deliver their promises.

The civil society idea has inspired change world wide in recent decades. The university idea is universal. The civil society university idea brings the two ideas together. It can operate within or across national boundaries. It can be local or global in its concerns and structure. We believe it is an idea whose time has come.

A civil society university could provide important benefits for the public and society in general in several areas:

• the third sector lacks the educational infrastructure, intellectual ambition and framework for individuals to develop their careers – in contrast to business and government sectors;
• current provision for learning within and for the sector is relatively small scale, fragmented and lacks an accreditation framework;
• there is a need to fire the intellectual enthusiasms of those who work for a better world and want to do it intelligently - bringing values and skills together to raise the profile and esteem of all who are active in civil society;
• the new institution would make lifelong learning integral to the work experience of both employees and volunteers;
• and it would lodge flexible learning, new ideas and research at the centre of civil society development.
  

The vision that inspires this website makes the active involvement of civil society a precondition for the formation of such an institution. The shape this institution might take therefore depends on the level of support and the contributions that it receives.

Please explore this website as it develops, share with us your views and ideas, and lend us your support.