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Ben Roche, Head of Sustainability, Partnerships and Community Engagement, Southern Cross University delivered this presentation at the 2013 Regional Universities conference. The event focuses on policy and funding for Australia’s regional tertiary education and its impact on service delivery and sustainable development. For more information about the event, visit the conference website: http://www.informa.com.au/regionalunis
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Ben Roche
Engagement for Regional UniversitiesMany challenges, opportunities and a danger.
Engagement
“the cultivation of relationships that lead to productivepartnerships which yield mutually beneficial outcomesthrough the application of university resources acrossthe breadth of university activities”
Engagement Australia (engagementaustralia.org.au)
Resources – Staff, students, infrastructure and knowledge
Activities – Research, learning and teaching, service
Engagement ≠ Service
• Scholarly & Citizenship dimensions
• Engagement is a Process
• Impact is the outcome
• Differentiated by mutual benefit
• Relationship driven
• Integrated: research, teaching & service
Engaged Universities
• Innovation & Productivity agendas
• Public policy and knowledge exchange
• Industry needs
• Curriculum relevance• Economic transition• Societal challenges &
public good
Drivers Relevance
(RUN Engagement Group, 2013)
Many challenges
• Diversity of activities
• Articulating impact and thus value
• Relevance across scales
• High expectations
• No uniform model
• Many different Masters
Levels of Institutional Commitment
Low Relevance
Medium Relevance
High Relevance
Full Integration
The Holland Matrix (2006)
• Mission
• Explicit leadership positions
• Promotion, tenure, recruitment
• Organisation structure & funding
• Community & faculty involvement
• Curriculum framework
UEQM Framework
• Identified typologies
• Active stakeholders
• Specific governance
• Executive leadership
• Recognition & Incentive
• Process & impact metrics
• Investment in relationships
• Professional development
(Cuthill, 2007)
Reflecting on Wingspread’s call
• Integrate engagement into mission
• Forge partnerships as the overarching framework
• Renew and redefine discovery and scholarship
• Integrate engagement into teaching and learning
• Recruit and support new champions
• Create radical institutional change
Brukardt et. Al (2004) “Calling the Question: Is Higher Education Ready to Commit to Community Engagement?”
The Opportunities…
• Lateral connector: across related portfolios
• Robust strategic framework: individual & institutional
• Grounded in clear conception, values framework and explicit mission
• Define explicit organisational model
• Identify institutional leadership roles
• Embrace strong leadership in the sector
for regional universities to lose.
A Danger…
• Service frame
• Oblique definition with fuzzy outcomes
• A thousand flowers bloom with no coherent strategic framework
• Executive responsibility not leadership
• Profile oriented opposed to partnership driven
• Ignore the power of place
Conclusions
• Hooks: impact, access, relevance, policy
• Nested organisational framework
• Scholarly & Citizenship dimensions
• Systemic drivers: promotion, portfolio, partners
• Partnership strategy: relationships & networks
• Define explicit outcomes for our regions & planet
• Overarching model: typologies, processes, outcomes, impact
Many thanks!
Sandmann & Childers (2012)
• Knowledge is foundation for change process
• Starts with knowledgeable individuals with influence
• Policy led responses often face resistance
• Promotion, tenure and recruitment weakest on Holland’s matrix.
72 participants from the Engagement Academy (US) over four years
Institutional Competency Model
Lead Resource
Development
Develop a Vision, Roles &
Plan for Engagement/
Engaged Scholarship
Develop & Maintain
Strategic Engagement
Operations
Customize Change
Strategies to Support
Engagement
Culture
Commitment
Alignment
Integration
Impact
Read the Institutional
and Community
Context
Develop Programs
with Impact
Communicate Impact
Statically
(Sandmann & Childers, 2012)