PROSPECTUS

AS OF NOVEMBER 2024

 

The creation of this university could happen in different ways. Here we identify two; the first is called Formation of a Campus, the second is called Development in Phases. A combination of these two is another possibility. 

 

FORMATION OF A CAMPUS

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This approach takes the first task to be to raise whatever funds are necessary to purchase a suitable property and to set about the design and construction of beautiful anthroposophically-inspired buildings and other facilities. At the same time the formation of the campus will involve supporting the setting up a businesses which will enable the development and maintenance of the university through gift capital.

 

The separation of the three spheres - the economic, the legal-rights and the cultural-spiritual - is at the heart of this campus vision. The intention is that the campus will be free from government control, exercised through course regulation and funding. Equally will the campus be free from the economic sphere, from the "corporate capture" so prevalent in the tertiary education sphere. The gift capital coming from businesses - from the outset - will be free; that is, how money is used will be decided by the university faculty.  

 

Everything which comes under the Formation of a Campus approach has been developed in the above feasibility document; it represents the completion phase of the Development in Phases approach. Donations can be made through the Education for Social Renewal Foundation 

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DEVELOPMENT IN PHASES

 

This strategy envisions four phases in the creation of a new form of university, global in context and potentially taking shape in many different countries. It represents the approach being taken by Archeus Social Ltd (the Education for Social Renewal Foundation) and it can be the approach of others. However, it is not necessarily the blueprint for all strategies.

 

Archeus Social Ltd will play a role in this global outreach in order to fulfil one of the goals of its constitution which is to facilitate conferences, seminars or other forums.  In practical terms the activities it supports will be focussed in Australia; the Foundation can only pass on tax deductible donations to Australian educational organisations.

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These are the four phases:

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IDENTIFICATION PHASE

OUTREACH PHASE

CONSOLIDATION PHASE

COMPLETION PHASE 

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1. IDENTIFICATION PHASE - INDUS PROJECT. Production of a feasibility document for a new university as first conceived in Western Australia. COMPLETED IN 2024.

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2. OUTREACH PHASE

This is where we currently stand. At this point the prospectus is a key, for it can be shared and disseminated far and wide. We are seeking to help facilitate the formation of networks of people who potentially are students of the university. This is something many people can assist with through social media and other forms of dialogue and exchange. In this sense this university will be a creation of very many people.

 

Key questions in this phase: What can bind these networks into a unity? What will help people identify and recognise this university initiative as an exciting pathway toward awakening and growing into one’s principal task in life? The following outreach methods, among others, can be used:

 

Telegram, Signal, WhatsApp, FaceBook sites, YouTube Shorts, webinars, conferences, seminars.

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When groups or networks of people form communities of interest, different activities can bind and sustain their interest and intentions. One central activity is Atelier for the Social Quest - click here. This is the orientation course for the university; it can be undertaken by a group before or after enrolment at the university. It can be worked with very part-time, for minimal cost. These first modules of Atelier for the Social Quest take you into the form of thinking cultivated at the university – an imaginative, living thinking in which the scientific and the artistic are intimately connected. The whole task of the university will thereby be understood; its unique path of learning will already be entered into.

 

3. CONSOLIDATION PHASE

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This phase will commence when the level of interest reaches a threshold point, and a significant number of enrolments take place; then the university can commence its work.

 

The university could have the following founding faculties – organic (anthroposophic) architecture, life sciences, psychology-psychosophy, performance and visual arts, Waldorf/Steiner education, biodynamic/organic agriculture, economics. These seven span the threefold social organism. ​

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LECTURES

Every week, for each subject, there will be one one-hour lecture delivered online, prior to the research seminar of the week. This lecture can be viewed individually, at a time convenient for the student. It is strongly recommended that it is viewed in an unhurried, meditative atmosphere and that notes are taken in a journal.

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SEMINARS

The seminars are the situation where students have the opportunity to develop their work individually and creatively. The traditional "vessel waiting to be filled" approach of traditional universities has no place here. All seminars are in-person and there is flexibility how this can happen. For those living within or near city centres, the university will organise the venue. Students outside those centres (in rural areas) can gather their own seminar group which must be no smaller than five. If it exceeds ten it should be divided in two.

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There are two seminars per week, for every week of the semester. One will be devoted to individual research development; the other will be group work on the orientation course.

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Orientation Course Seminars – 1 X 2-hour meeting per week. This seminar is considered a studio or atelier – a social art studio. This orientation course is called Atelier for the Social Quest; it is a schooling in thinking – living, imaginative thinking. Click here. The course work in self-managed by the students in the seminar group. The three foundation modules – Nature, Society, Self – are undertaken by all students in this order. Then the student can choose a module in relation to her or his course of study: Architecture, Life Science, Performance and Visual Arts, Psychology-Psychosophy, Biodynamic Agriculture, Economics. Each module is self-organised to last the entire period of semester, the four modules in this way completed over two years. At the end of each semester orientation course journals will be submitted to the tutor for comment (not for numerical grading).

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Research Seminars – 1 X 2-hour meeting per week. In the city centres the research seminar will be with the tutor physically in attendance. In locations outside city centres the student participants will need to be present in person and the tutor will be present online. The individual research in connection with the course of study will take place by means of the Research Seminars. This seminar is intensely practical. Supported by the lectures and course material, along with readings, the creative initiative of the individual student and the will to explore and learn is the key to this seminar work. In this seminar there is likely to be students doing different courses and a living exchange will of course occur.

 

The tutor's role during the seminar is to discuss the aims and methods of research with the group as a whole and with students individually, in relation to their individual projects leading to the production of a thesis over a year or two-year period. 

 

INTENSIVES

Once a year an in-person intensive will take place with one or more of the lecturers and tutors involved in a course. The intensive will be the opportunity, over the course of five days, to meet and interact creatively with all others students undertaking a particular course. The content and methods of the online lectures will be developed and intensified by the kind of practical work possible at such a gathering. Of central importance will be the opportunity to practice, in front of the assembled body of students and teachers, the end-of-year presentations - for feedback and support.

 

END OF YEAR PRESENTATIONS

These presentations will be conducted in a location in the city centres, for all students. They are held at the end of the year, over a number of weekends. Students from outside the city centres will need to journey to those centres for this occasion.

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This presentation will be well-prepared formal events involving the student presentation followed by a question and answer session (the whole, for each student, lasting an hour). No numerical mark will be awarded; however, a written report will be made by the tutor and an independent assessor asked to attend (selected by the tutor in consultation with the student). A video recording will be made of the presentation, for potential use by the student for employment or entry into other tertiary study. An expert from the relevant area can be invited to attend and provide feedback.

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The following links are to students in Steiner (Waldorf) schools in Australia, presenting the results of their year-long Class 12 projects. This shows the general format of what the end-of-year presentations at the university will be. The difference is that the university presentations deal with a significantly more mature level of specialised research within a faculty. In many cases the university-level research will be a preparation for a profession. To see the style of presentation, as carried out in Rudolf Steiner schools, click here and here.

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ASSESSMENT

At the end of a one-year or two-year course of study, each student will have:

 

• a thesis deriving from work in the research seminars (this this will involve a creative aspects beyond just text – for example, video material or other records of activities).

• a journal resulting from work in the orientation course.

• a written account by the tutor and invited assessors of the research presentation along with a video record of the presentation.​

 

TUITION PAYMENT

The teaching-researching sphere of the university is not a corporation or business; lecturers and tutors are not employed by any organisation. Teachers do not receive money in the form of a salary because lectures and seminars are not regarded by the university as economic transactions (payments for services rendered) but rather - correctly - as a cultural-spiritual relationship or event.

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Therefore payment for tuition is a form of gift-contribution, of a set amount. Payment is made through the Education for Social Renewal Foundation. 

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4. COMPLETION PHASE

 

This is the creation, in Australia, of one or more physical campuses. As far as the Education for Social Renewal Foundation is concerned, the picture of the Completion Phase is given in the Indus Project Feasibility study, which comprises the Identification Phase of this prospectus (see above).

 

Standing within the Outreach Phase, it is impossible to predict how long it will take to reach the Completion Phase. Lectures, seminars, assessment and end of year presentations will all be essentially the same in the Completion Phase. However, many dimensions of university life will be added to this, to make the campus truly a vibrant “little city” and a profound expression of the threefold social organism.

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