The above link is to an initiation document for the Professional Society of Academics proposal. It is in draft form. Contribution is most welcome.
It presents the professional alternative as a bid for the higher education social contract, which has been recently and unofficially forced opened by crises across the triad, such as: 1) The purchase of accreditation through private "revitalization investment" in a growing number of struggling or near defunct institutions; 2) The meteoric rise of private and public ventures into Massive Open Online Courses; 3) The continued reduction in public support for everything from higher education finance to its philosophy...
This tender is part of a larger reform effort wherein the service, governance, finance and representation features of the professions are combined with those of the co-operative model in use since the early 19th century. This professional/co-operative model can place higher education in the social economy, at a comfortable distance from capitalist or state involvement.