Global trends in support structures for community university research partnerships

Abstract

This report presents findings from a 2014 global survey on institutional structures behind Community University Research Partnerships (CURP), It was run under the UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, with funding from IDRC. It draws on 336 responses from 53 countries, looking at how universities and civil society organisations set up and sustain partnership mechanisms, from centralised university centres to independent bodies like science shops. Institutionalisation looks patchy across the board. And there's a real gap between universities' talk of co-creating knowledge and what happens on the ground: community-originated research stays rare, and CSOs keep running into limited funding and little say in decisions. What respondents value most is trust and mutual respect, even as mismatched timelines and clashing institutional cultures keep getting in the way. Training and steady funding come up again and again in what people recommend going forward.