Street University

In December 2008, the Ted Noffs Foundation and the University of New South Wales launched Australia’s first ever Street University. While on international tour, famed hip-hop group ‘Public Enemy’ performed at the launch party and cut the inaugural ribbon.

The Street University is a place where young people are able to walk in off the street and take courses in anything from basketball to biology. Housed in a massive converted warehouse in Liverpool, the space has several classrooms decked out with top of the line Mac computers, recording studios, a basketball court, a graffiti wall where individuals are encouraged to express themselves, a prayer room, a library and a cafe run by young people and their families.

Last week students from the Street University marched in protest to the Liverpool Council to show their dismay against the possible closure of the Casula Legal Walls.

Many students from the Street University use the public creative spaces to depict their experience, their dreams and their hopes for the future.

The council has deemed these walls as vandalism and thus is threading to close them down. No only will it be a loss for young creative individuals, it will take away the community atmosphere that the youth have created in Liverpool.



The Street University educates young people who are at risk of being involved with drugs, alcohol, crime or homelessness. The marginalized youth are able to re-educate themselves surrounded by scholars, experienced teachers and caring individuals.

The Street University and its family of volunteers provide a new way of thinking and learning to those who would otherwise be turned away. It is a place of discovery, determination and opportunities.

The Street University is total goose-bump territory. I'm so proud to say that we have something like this in Sydney, Australia.