Innovations in Socially Engaged Universities Erasmus Project

Project Title

Innovations in Socially Engaged Universities

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship; Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions

Project Summary

Context:
As higher education faces unprecedented public scrutiny and increasing pressures from the political, economic, social and environmental agendas, there is increased public interest in the impact of universities on their localities and regions. There are growing calls for universities to be more socially relevant and responsible by addressing the needs of society, both locally and globally. In recent years, the concept of the “third mission” has become popularised, referring to the social, enterprise, and innovative activities that universities perform in addition to core teaching and research tasks.

It is increasingly accepted that universities, when well-connected with their communities, can be a vehicle for making healthier, culturally richer and more interesting places to live, work and study. Globally, more and more universities are integrating social responsibility into their mission statements, including those for research and teaching, arguing that higher education is improved when it gives back to the society that is responsible for funding it. Indeed, University Social Responsibility has become a core mission of many higher education institutions around the world.

Objectives:
The central aim of this project was to share experience and know-how of relationships between European universities and their civic and civil societies and to use this as the basis for a series of innovative pilot projects in each partner city. We sought to understand how Higher Education Institutions can better respond to what their local community really needs and to perform or broker research with and for communities, in a demand-driven way. We also sought to drive institution-wide commitment to co-production of knowledge and innovation through social engagement and citizen-led research, where the experience and expertise of individuals, communities and civic organisations is recognised, used and valued.

Participants:
This project brought together universities, their local authority partners, community members, Civil Society Organisations and engagement practitioners, through stakeholder involvement, and participation in case studies and pilot projects in each Partner City.

The completed outputs included:
IO1 A state-of-the-art review of partnerships between universities and their civic and civil societies: This output provides an overview of the different models and approaches of partnerships between universities and their communities, exploring their governance, function and structure, motivations for partnering, and characteristics. We also provide a focus on each of the partner countries, and describe how regional and national context and policies support or hinder partnerships between universities and their communities, and describe some of the unique partnerships between academic institutions and their communities in each partner country – exploring the practicalities of what works and what doesn’t work, and trying to understand how partnerships demonstrate and evaluate the impact of their activities on all stakeholders and the wider society.
 
IO2 Case Study Compendium: This second output used a case study methodology to explore successful examples of community university partnerships in each Partner Institution, using interviews and observations to understand and describe what works and what doesn’t.

IO3 Pilot Project Delivery and Synthesis: The findings from the first two outputs were used to inform the design and delivery of a community-led Pilot Project in each Partner city. Each project was co-designed and delivered from inception with non-academic partners, to bring about mutual benefit for all parties and was evaluated for impact, inclusion and transferability.

IO4 Community University Partnership Toolkit: Finally, the lessons learned were translated into a series of accessible components of a Toolkit designed to help universities and their communities to develop partnerships which respond to local societal challenges.

Results and impact:
The immediate outcome of this project is enriched knowledge and understanding of the myriad ways in which universities can engage with their communities in order to become more embedded in, and responsive to, the needs of their local society. In the longer term, lessons learned will enhance the relevance and impact of trans-disciplinary engaged research into societal issues by helping universities to understand how they can support academics and students to co-produce research with and for their communities.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 331345 Eur

Project Coordinator

THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER & Country: UK

Project Partners

• UNIVERSITEIT GENT
• OTTO-VON-GUERICKE-UNIVERSITAET MAGDEBURG
• STICHTING HOGER BEROEPSONDERWIJS HAAGLANDEN
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PARMA