Alt-HE is a platform for exploring and developing alternatives to mainstream higher education.
While critique of the current system is widespread, viable alternatives remain fragmented and weakly connected. Alt-HE brings together critical analysis, a structured knowledge base, and a community of practice to map, understand, and support new approaches to higher learning.
Our aim is to make alternative models more visible, intelligible, and developable.
Analysis of the assumptions and limits of current higher education systems
Alt-HE examines the assumptions and structures shaping contemporary higher education. As universities face increasing pressure to deliver economic value and expand participation, provision has become more standardised and less open to experimentation.
We focus on:
Our aim is to clarify these constraints and open space for credible alternatives to emerge
A structured, growing repository of alternative models and case studies
Alt-HE is building a structured knowledge base of alternative models of higher education. Across the UK and internationally, there are diverse experiments—new institutional forms, community-led initiatives, and alternative credentialing systems.
We document and organise:
The goal is to support comparison, understanding, and further development.
A network of researchers and practitioners developing new approaches
Alt-HE brings together a community of practice engaged in rethinking and developing higher education. This includes academics, practitioners, policymakers, and those seeking new forms of learning.
We provide a space for:
Alt-HE is a shared endeavour, shaped by those working to explore and build alternatives.