In response to he crackdown on academic freedom and persecution of critical scholars in Turkey, a group of academics in exile in Germany founded the Off-University initiative in 2017. Off-University primarily aims to provide persecuted academics who can no longer work at a university and are criminalised for their opinions, with the opportunity to teach online and earn an income.

Since 2017 Off-University has paid 16 scholars at risk to teach on its online learning platform with over 1400 students joining the online courses from around the world.

Through its online learning platform Off-University brings together students and scholars at risk across borders. It allows for knowledge exchange in a safe environment without censorship via its encrypted platform and the anonymity of its users. 

With your support we want to continue to pay an income to at risk scholars to teach on our platform so that they can sustain their livelihoods and continue to teach. With our crowdfunding campaign we also want to improve our online learning platform to make it is as inclusive, engaging and easy to use as possible for our students and lecturers around the world.