The MFU
The Melbourne Free University provides a platform for learning, discussion and debate which is open to everyone. The MFU was established in 2010 in response to Australia’s increasingly outcome oriented education system, and aims to offer space for independent engagement with important contemporary ideas and issues.
The MFU runs six-week courses on a range of subjects and themes, with classes taking place on weekday evenings from 6.30-8pm in Melbourne’s inner north. Each session starts with a 45 minute presentation by an expert on the issue at hand, followed by a 45 minute participant-driven discussion. This is not a Q&A session – we believe that everyone has something important to bring to the discussion, regardless of their education, job, or experience, and hope to create a space where the community can come together to learn off one another and debate salient current issues.
There is no enrolment, no registration, no fee; you are free to come to any session.
The MFU also runs once-off sessions on a range of topics throughout the year, keep an eye on this space for details.
All our past sessions are available for download on our Recordings page here.
Contact us: If you’d like to know more about the MFU or volunteer to teach at the MFU, please contact us at melbournefreeuniversity@gmail.com.
If you’d like to subscribe to our newsfeed, please use the subscribe panel on the right of this page, or email us at melbournefreeuniversity@gmail.com.
2011 / 12 MFU@City Square Series:
The Melbourne Free University launches a series of seminars at City Square on Tuesday evenings through summer in collaboration with Occupy Melbourne. This series begins on Tuesday 6 December and will explore questions of how our economy, society and politics can be organised differently, which have again taken centre stage in the context of the global Occupy movement.
MFU Summer Series in collaboration with Occupy
In the context of the global Occupy movement, questions of how our economy, society and politics could be organised differently have once again taken centre stage. This series of seminars will invite speakers to explore radical practical ideas on how our world might be, in relation to topics as diverse as inequality, Indigenous politics, democracy, law, gender, climate change, economics and more. This series will run throughout summer on Tuesday evenings from 7-8:30pm. Each session will follow the usual MFU format, and involve a 40 minute lecture followed by a 40 minute open discussion.
“It is true that we do not know that humans are equal. We are saying that they might be. This is our opinion, and we are trying, with those who believe as we do, to verify it. But we know that this might is exactly what makes a society of humans possible.”
