Community-University Engagement

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://knowledgedemocracydspace.com/handle/123456789/1069

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 40

A resource guide of networks: Community-university engagement & partnerships community-based research participatory action research social responsibility in higher education
(UNESCO Chair, 2013-07) Taylor, Amanda
Background document for university - community engagement
(University of Victoria, 2007-09-15) Office of Community-Based Research (OCBR); Dragne, Cornelia
The report examined the ways universities coordinate their engagement efforts from the university's side, by examining academic reports and universities websites. Being a two-way relationship, the picture would have been complete if the community side would have been presenting its own account. However, due to the large number of different interactions with various community partners, even for a single university such picture is not feasible for this report to build. Academics engaged in community-based research and activities are people committed to the idea of engagement and its strong supporters. By reviewing accounts of existing institutional commitments, the report presents a view strongly supportive of the idea that allocating institutional resources to university-community engagement is the way to go. The report overlooks the epistemological debates surrounding engagement scholarship and community-based forms of research, as well as the concerns about the ethics of academic-community interaction. Another limitation stems from the fact that English language was used for all the searches.
Big Tent Communique VI. Local identities and global citizenship: A message from Catania and challenges for universities
(2015-11-04) Hall, Budd L
In a world facing growing inequality, conflict, and environmental strain, the Sixth Big Tent Communiqué reflects on what role universities can play in responding to these challenges. It sees higher education as more than classrooms and research, calling for closer ties with communities and a stronger sense of responsibility to society. The communiqué raises questions about how universities can support young people, create knowledge that connects rather than divides, and rebuild trust in uncertain times. Instead of final answers, it leaves open the possibility that the future of universities will depend on how far they are willing to rethink their purpose.
Bridging knowledge cultures: A guide for community practitioners and community organizations
(UNESCO Chair, 2024) Lepore, Walter; Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh
Building in dialogue between consumers and staff in acute mental health services
(Systemic Practice and Action Research, 1998) Wadsworth, Yoland; Epstein, Merinda
This paper describes some aspects of the methodology, material, and findings from a lengthy participatory action research engagement by a consumer organization in Australia, which was undertaken in collaboration with staff at a major public psychiatric hospital and then went on to involve "players" throughout the local state, and national mental health services system. A small first phase established a dialogic methodology for the exchange of experiences and thinking between staff and consumers. The purpose of the second phase of the research was to explore how consumers' voices might be heard, and how staff-consumer communication about that feedback, might be "built in" to ongoing organizational structure and culture. Systems thinking about defensive routines, silences, and voice-as-discourse is reported as offering a possible way of cracking the puzzle of the closed-loop cycle of claim/blame-defense-and-counter-claim/blame-defense that has been characteristic to date.
Challenges in the co-construction of knowledge: A global study on strengthening structures for community university research partnerships
(0000) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh; Tremblay, Crystal; Singh, Wafa
What does it mean to institutionalise the co-construction of knowledge between universities and communities at a global level? This paper begins from the premise that knowledge democracy requires moving beyond expert driven models towards collaborative processes that recognise the knowledge generating capacities of each human being and of every community. Community university research partnerships are presented as a key pathway for this shift, as they create structures through which research questions, methods, processes and outcomes can be shaped jointly. Drawing on a global survey and national case studies across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas, the authors examine the histories, discourses and institutional forms that support or constrain such partnerships. This paper further analyses models such as Science Shops, centers of community-based research and national policy frameworks, while identifying tensions and practical challenges in embedding such work within universities. It highlights the importance of facilitative structures, supportive leadership, transnational networks and sustained institutional commitment. In doing so, it argues that institutionalising community-based research is not only a technical exercise but a political and ideological process that reshapes how universities understand knowledge, partnership and their responsibilities to society.
Community engagement in higher education institutions: Status report 2015
(UNESCO Chair, 2015-04) Tandon, Rajesh; Singh, Wafa
Community-university engagement in a time of COVID-19
(2020) Tandon, Rajesh; Hall, Budd L
Curriculum, higher education, and the public good
(2009) Hall, Budd L; Bhatt, Nandita; Lepore, Walter
Curriculum change in higher education is an extremely complex process. Influences on the content of what is taught in higher education include new knowledge coming from the various academic disciplines, from the regulatory bodies of many of the professions, from national calls for action, from global challenges, from social movements of the day. This chapter argues that in the search for excellence, engagement and social responsibility that there is no contradiction between responding to local calls for action and global matters. Illustrations of curriculum change which attend to both the local and the global include classroom changes, single university changes, system-wide changes in Canada, Asia, Latin America and New Zealand. We call for more attention to community engaged learning and the creation of central offices for community university engagement.
Everything old is new again: The importance of engagement to University-based Adult Education in Canada
(2010) Hall, Budd L
What place does engagement hold in the history and future of university-based adult education in Canada? In this paper, Dr. Budd L. Hall traces the historical roots and contemporary revival of engagement within Canadian adult and continuing education. Beginning with the British extramural tradition and early extension movements at institutions such as the University of Alberta, St. Francis Xavier, McGill and Toronto, he situates adult education as deeply embedded in community life and democratic practice. He reflects on the professionalisation of adult education in the 1960s and 70s, alongside the growth of academic research and national scholarly networks. Hall then examines the emergence of community–university engagement as a renewed and institutionalised force, highlighting initiatives such as the SSHRC Community University Research Alliance, Service aux Collectivités in Québec, and newer community-based research structures across Canadian universities. Drawing on historical analysis, institutional developments and diverse scholarship, he argues that engagement is not a new add-on but a return to foundational commitments. The paper encourages adult educators to reclaim and strengthen their role within this growing movement toward democratic, community-engaged higher education.
Fathering in the shadows: Indigenous fathers and Canada's colonial legacies
(Sage, 2009-07) Ball, Jessica
A study of Canadian Indigenous fathers' involvement conceptualized a temporal horizon within which to situate challenges and opportunities for caring for children following decades of colonial interventions that have diminished men's roles. Through five community-university partnerships, conversational interviews were held with eighty First Nations and Métis fathers in British Columbia, Canada. Using a grounded theory approach, a conceptual model was constructed identifying six key ecological and psychological factors that combine to account for Indigenous men's experiences of fatherhood: personal wellness, learning fathering, socioeconomic inclusion, social support, legislative and policy support, and cultural continuity. Indigenous fathers' accounts bring into focus systemic barriers to positive fathers' involvement, including socioeconomic exclusion due to failures of the educational system, ongoing colonization through Canada's Indian Act, and mother-centrism in parenting programs and child welfare practices. Policy and program reforms are suggested to increase Indigenous fathers' positive and sustained engagement with their children.
Gauging the impact of community university engagement initiatives in India
(ASEAN Journal of Community Engagement, 2017-07-02) Singh, Wafa
Today, the world we live in is challenged with the co-existence of ‘prosperity and poverty’. In India, in particular, although we are witnessing staggering increase in various economic indicators, our Human Development Indicators (HDIs) remain unenviable. It is in this context that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have assumed profound importance as having the potential to offer sustainable solutions to such societal challenges. As a result, the practice of Community University Engagement (CUE) has gained prominence, as a phenomenon seeking a two-way discourse between the communities and the universities, in an attempt to produce ‘socially relevant knowledge’ which is inclusive and sustainable. Considering the importance and value of such an initiative, an attempt was made to tap such engagement practices between the HEIs and communities in India. In addition to plain documentation of such engagement, another highly crucial parameter in this regard is the measurement of the impact of such initiatives, on all the stakeholders involved in the process. However, academic literature related to this is still limited. In an attempt to fill this gap, the study at hand involved impact assessment of CUE activities as an important component. Using qualitative tools of impact assessment, this paper documents the empirical evidence of the impacts on various stakeholders, arising out of CUE activities, undertaken at various universities in India. The results generated through primary data, show that although it appears to be the case of binary stakeholders (Community and University), CUE envisages engagement, integration and cross linking among a number of sub-stakeholders, getting impacted in a multitude of ways. Students get an opportunity of experiential learning; while teachers can take up socially relevant research, as part of the curriculum. Communities benefit by way of empowerment and sustainable livelihoods, while universities get a chance to project themselves as ‘socially engaged’ institutions. Indirect and subsidiary stakeholders like Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Government, respectively also take away several benefits from the process. Therefore, in essence, the paper makes the case of CUE by demonstrating the positive and mutually beneficial experienced enjoyed by the stakeholders involved in the process.
Global trends in support structures for community university research partnerships
(UNESCO Chair, 2014-09) Tremblay, Crystal; Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh
Amid a growing recognition of the need for closer collaboration between higher education institutions and communities, this paper presents the findings of a global survey on Community–University Research Partnerships (CURPs), conducted in 2014 with responses from 53 countries. The study examines how these partnerships are initiated, supported, and funded, and highlights the differences in “knowledge cultures” between universities and community groups. Differences in the way HEIs and CSOs approach and use knowledge, where universities often focus on academic outputs and CSOs prioritize practical, community-oriented outcomes, shape the way these collaborations function. The research also highlights challenges such as limited funding and institutional support for civil society actors, and positions the need for stronger policies, equitable engagement, and sustained capacity building if these partnerships are to move beyond formality and realize their transformative potential.
Guidelines for global review on training in community-based research (CBR)
(UNESCO Chair, 2014-04) UNESCO Chair
The UNESCO Chair in Community-based Research (CBR) and Social Responsibility in Higher Education is carrying out a global study on training practices for CBR in four thematic areas: asset-based development, indigenous research methodologies, participatory citizenship and water governance. Our overall goal is to increase access to high quality training in CBR within higher education institutions and civil society sectors with a particular focus on the Global South. A key part of this project consists of a global review of the following key elements: 1. relevant empirical and theoretical literature on training, teaching and learning CBR in global and local settings; 2. different pedagogies, strategies and materials for building CBR capacities (e.g., curricula, participatory video, photo voice, community theatre, community consultations, etc.) 3. best practices related to each thematic area and lessons learned in several pilot studies on training CBR; 4. current regional sources (e.g., CSOs, universities) for the training of new community-based researchers; 5. potential for collaboration amongst partners as a global CBR training network. This document presents a guide for conducting this global review on training, learning and teaching CBR. Section 1 introduces a literature review protocol for searching and extracting data from published studies and grey literature on training CBR. The following two sections describe some general guidelines to identify regional sources of CBR training and potential partners (Section 2) and to compile information and material currently used for training in community based research (Section 3).
Higher education, community engagement and the world we want: A policy brief to the world conference on higher education
(2009-06) Global Alliance on Community Engaged Research
At this critical time in human and sustainable development for the world, it is imperative that we harness the potential of community higher education partnerships to inform progress. There is a large aggregate trend to unite civil society and higher education institutions and networks in common efforts to co-create knowledge, mobilize it to inform practice and policy, and enhance the social, economic and environmental conditions of people, communities, nations and the world. However, these efforts are fragmented and face many unnecessary barriers. We therefore propose an Action Plan for University-Community Engagement for Societal Change and Development, one that unleashes the resources of higher education and government, in collaboration with civil society and its socio-economic development actors to create the sustainable world we want.
Higher education, community engagement, and the public good: Building the future of continuing education in Canada
(Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education, 2009) Hall, Budd L
This article is about the potential for university-community engagement to serve the public good by transforming the health and well-being of our communities. It documents contemporary expressions of and renewed calls for community university engagement. It includes a detailed treatment of community based research, discussed in the overall context of community-university engagement. The article also explores some other important and growing dimensions of community university engagement, including the development of structures for the support of community-based research and community-service learning. It concludes with an argument that university-community engagement, while not the only current trend in higher education that affects our work in continuing education, is nonetheless a very important new development in which continuing education has much to offer and much to gain.
Higher education, the politics of knowledge and the challenges of popular education and social movements
(1993) Hall, Budd L
Dr. Budd L. Hall reflects on the politics of knowledge in higher education, drawing on his own experiences across adult education, participatory research, and academic life. The paper departs from conventional academic arguments. It moves through personal narrative and engagement with other scholars to examine how universities continue to decide what counts as legitimate knowledge. Hall grounds these reflections in specific encounters from his career, particularly the 1991 Paulo Freire Birthday Conference in New York, where a question from a Latina community educator pushed him to rethink how universities relate to the communities they claim to serve. He traces participatory research back to challenges against positivist paradigms in adult education and international development research, noting that even as the field gains recognition inside universities, systems of tenure, promotion, and academic reward continue to favor individual scholarship over collaborative and community-rooted work. Eco-feminist, cultural-historical, and adult education voices, including Vandana Shiva, Mechtild Hart, and Edmund Sullivan, widen the critique further. Hall also points to community-based research centres, PRIA among them, and popular education networks across Latin America as spaces sustaining knowledge outside university walls, closing with a call to reinvent the academy in more democratic and non-extractive terms
Impact assessment. community-engaged research (CER) at the University of Victoria, 2009-2015
(University of Victoria, 2017-05-23) Tremblay, Crystal
This Impact Assessment report is based on several consultations and research (empirical and document analysis) that took place between July – December 2016 with former Directors, Associate Directors and Research Affiliates from the Office of Community-based Research (OCBR) and the Institute for the Studies and Innovation in Community University Engagement (ISICUE) at the University of Victoria. This assessment is prepared for the Office of the Vice President Research (OVPR) by the Office of Community University Engagement (OCUE), in partnership with Research Partnership Knowledge Mobilization (RPKM) unit at the University of Victoria (UVic). The main objective is to assess the various levels (e.g. micro, messo, macro) and broad range of impact resulting from Community-Engaged Research between 2009-2015. This includes direct outputs and outcomes of the OCBR (2008-2012) and ISICUE (2012-2015), as well as a full academic unit scan across the campus drawing from the Enhanced Planning Tool document (2014-15). Impact is documented by 5 indicators including: 1) external research funding, 2) academic unit scan, 3) reputation, 4) 12 in-depth impact case studies, and 5) community-engaged learning metrics. The occurrences of impact are applied to OCUE’s 5 pillars of engagement: Community-engaged Research, Community-engaged Learning, Knowledge Mobilization, Good Neighbour and Institutional Policies and Support, the United Nations Sustainable Development framework (17 goals), as well as UVic’s International Plan (4 areas) The results point to a wide range and diversity of impact to society in each of the 5 OCUE pillars across the academic units in almost all the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Impact narratives from 12 in-depth case studies across the campus (e.g. Business, Engineering, Geography, History) demonstrate significant institutional and community benefit as an outcome of CER. The results highlight key institutional supports (e.g., RPKM, ORS) and provide an enhanced understanding of key contextual features of successful Community-engaged Research (CER) initiatives. The results inform criteria to support the assessment of community engaged scholarship in reviewing grant applications, partnership proposals, and faculty tenure, promotion, and merit applications. An impact rubric and guidelines for promotion and tenure are a valuable outcome of this project. This assessment is not exhaustive of all CER activities on campus. Appendix II provides some insight into the numerous research partnerships excluded from this study due to not having enough information that fit the criteria (See methodology).
Institutionalizing community university research partnerships: A user’s manual
(PRIA and University of Victoria, 2015) Tandon, Rajesh; Hall, Budd L
This manual on Institutionalizing Community University Research Partnerships is both a handy reference and a ready tool-kit for university and college administrators interested in establishing and improving Community University Research Partnership initiatives in their institutions. It provides practical guidelines and steps that will help deliver on policy commitments made to promote Community University Engagement/Community University Research Partnerships in higher educa-tional institutions. These guidelines, supplemented with best practices (in boxes) from around the world, are intended to show a way forward, and are not necessarily prescriptive; they offer insights into how institutions can build and sustain Community University Research Partnership practices and structures. These best practices are a snapshot of current administra-tive structures and institutional policies that are facilitative of Community University Research Partnerships. A section on Frequently Asked Questions provides ready answers to questions that may arise in the process of institutionalizing Community University Research Partnerships. Resources and further readings at the end of the manual are an aid to fur-ther learning. The content of the manual has been carefully drawn from available global literature, much of it culled from products of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) funded global study on 'Mainstreaming Community University Research Partnerships' conducted under the aegis of the UNESCO Chair on Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education. This global study documented case studies across 12 countries and a comparative analysis of the cases high-lighted the practices and exemplars for institutionalizing Community University Research Partnerships. This easy-to-use manual is an effort of the UNESCO Co-Chairs towards co-creating knowledge, capacities and partnerships between universities (academics), communities (civil society) and government (policymakers). We hope it will be beneficial to all universities, colleges and other higher educational institutions that are sensitive to the issue of social responsibility and the potential of community based research to provide local solutions to global problems for local communities. We look forward to your comments and feedback once you have started on the journey of institutionalizing Community University Research Partnerships in your institution.
International collaboration for changing the culture of research: The UNESCO Chair in community-based research and social responsibility in higher education
(Autonomie Locali e Servizi Sociali, 2020-04-01) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh
In this article Dr. Budd L. Hall and Dr. Rajesh Tandon reflect on the evolution and global impact of the UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, established in 2012 as a joint initiative of the University of Victoria, Canada, and the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), India. Based on over forty years of collaborative work in participatory research, the authors trace the growth of international networks focused on community-based research, knowledge democracy, and socially responsible higher education. They examine how the chair's work, combining research, advocacy, and capacity building, has aimed at changing cultures of knowledge production and strengthening university-community partnerships. Through global studies, policy engagement, the "Big Tent" Communiqués, and the Knowledge for Change Consortium, they show how this work has addressed both local needs and the Sustainable Development Goals. The authors show that participatory, engaged research increases the social relevance of higher education by co-creating knowledge and building research capacity in the Global South and the "excluded North," marginalized communities within wealthy nations. The article points to sustained international collaboration and a substantive commitment to democratizing knowledge production as critical to reorienting research cultures towards equity, social justice, and sustainability.