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Knowledge for its own sake seems to have lost its currency in a world where "outcomes" have become the goal of tertiary education.But education without a necessary career goal should be valued, which is why on May 1, the Melbourne Free University, co-founded by Jasmine-Kim Westendorf, Gerhard Hoffstaedter and myself, was inaugurated after a year of planning.Although the attendance was not yet enough to call it a ground-breaking experiment, the discussions had were illuminating and convinced us we were on the right track. Common beliefs have brought us together to try to offer an alternative to an increasingly "outcome-oriented" form of education.The concept is not radical. Many Free Universities have sprung up around the world in the past few years such as the Université Populaire of Lyon, which was somewhat of a model for us. It is able to rely on more than 30 teachers and offers topics as unexpected as astrophysics.My first experience of tertiary education in Australia began in 2005 at the University of Melbourne where I taught French. Many of the students in my tutorials seemed only interested in the destination. I could not blame some of my students for not taking a deeper interest in a language they might never use. In the past, I had also "chosen" electives in which I had no interest but seemed simple enough to pass.My real awakening happened during a short interval back in France where I worked as a substitute French and English teacher in one of the "last resort" schools of the district. I was not surprised when I learned I had been given the toughest class. Something of a sadistic rite of passage for young teachers in France.Yet gradually one thing became clear: the system had failed them. Judging by my students' level in French and English, teachers had given up on them a while ago. There was no Hollywood ending for my students — I did not turn their lives around. However, those couple of weeks showed me that this failure was not unavoidable, that these students were no different from others I had taught before, but also that the responsibility for the failure was shared. Yes, the system had failed them, yet most importantly, it had led them to fail themselves. These students had forgotten their own capacity for emancipation as the system had condemned them as worthless. It did not take much to break the first barriers, spark their interest in poetry and theatre and give them confidence to take part. It would have taken much longer to withdraw the stigma that had led them to believe in their own worthlessness.I began my PhD in Australia and returned to teaching at tertiary level. After my brief experiences in France, my students' lack of motivation and interest shocked me all the more. It was clear that universities were no longer what I had dreamt they should be. Most students no longer go there to broaden their intellectual horizons, but merely to get a job. In a free system, one can fail a student who deserves to fail; it is more difficult if the student has paid (or will eventually pay) thousands. Education has become just another commodity. As a result, it has become rare to find students truly interested in their topics, and the quest for knowledge has become increasingly restrained.Of course, some students still demonstrate incredible enthusiasm, insight and perseverance. Yet knowledge no longer seems to be rewarding in itself; it has stopped being a vector of emancipation. When knowledge becomes nothing more than a temporarily useful commodity, it is not surprising many of us accept the increasing superficiality of the mainstream media. It is not surprising either that a majority of "us" think asylum seekers should be sent back, wherever and however back means. It is not surprising that emancipatory struggles such as feminism, which are key to the advancement of our society suffer terrible blows on a daily basis.Of course, the Melbourne Free University project will not solve all these issues. Yet I believe such endeavours to be crucial, not primarily for their practicality, but for what they represent. It is clear we will not touch everyone in the community, yet we will attempt to offer the possibility to enjoy knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Ultimately though, change rests in the hands of anyone and everyone: knowledge, like, freedom is not given, it is taken.First published in the National Times in June 2010