The editors and contributors argue that the sector is in crisis, accelerated by the passing of the UK Higher Education Research Act in 2017 and made visible during the University and College Union strikes in April 2018.

Chapter 1. Now is the time for co-operative higher education; Malcolm Noble and Cilla Ross.- Chapter 2. Useable pasts for a cooperative university: as different as light from darkness?; Tom Woodin.- Chapter 3. Establishing and sustaining co-operative universities and co-operative higher education in international contexts: Challenges and possibilities; Amanda Benson and Cilla Ross.- Chapter 4. Prefiguring the idea of the university: What can be learned from autonomous learning spaces that have experimented with no-fee, alternative forms of higher education in the UK; Gary Saunders.- Chapter 5. The social science centre, Lincoln: Free, co-operative higher education; Members of the SSC.- Chapter 6. The RED learning co-operative: Research, education and development for social change; Fenella Porter and Tracy Walsh.- Chapter 7. Phoenix from the ashes: The origins and development of Leicester Vaughan College; Lucy Faire and Miriam Gill.- Chapter 8. The co-operative intellect: Journeys in radical human ecology; Luke Devlin, Svenja Meyerricks and Anne Winther.- Chapter 9. The co-operative as site of pedagogy: The example of Edinburgh student housing co-operative; Perez and Shaw.- Chapter 10. Co-operative research and research co-operatives; Thomas Swann.- Chapter 11. MOOC's coming of age: u.lab and UExplore in Scotland; Anne Winther, Valerie Jackman, Keira Oliver.- Chapter 12. Collaging with co-operators: An arts-based inquiry into member perceptions of co-operative higher education; Hannah Bland.- Chapter 13. Seeking a co-operative university: Reconstructing adult education and reclaiming HE as a public good; Malcolm Noble and Cilla Ross.- Chapter 14. Afterword; Sally Birch.

Offer concrete examples of alternative higher education Asks how we can reclaim the university for the public good using co-operative structures Argues the university sector is in crisis, evidenced by the 2017 UK Higher Education Research Act and the 2018 University and College Union strikes