Since the millennium, higher education has seen significant growth and reflection on the role universities play within their immediate communities and regions, the contribution they make to local and regional economies, and how this is achieved and evaluated. In different parts of the world, the justification and rationale for ideas of civic, public, and community engagement vary, from the intrinsic value of contribution as a public good and as an important aspect of learning and citizenship, to those that seek to justify the draw of higher education on the public purse. Justifications have shifted and adapted, aligning to external stimuli. In parallel, innovative approaches to new pedagogies and service learning programmes, their intentional integration, and accreditation within the academic curriculum have been evolving alongside general community service or volunteering.

Closely integrated into the academic community, the majority of these programmes are advanced through teaching underpinned by pedagogic research and an array of infrastructural agencies. International public and community engagement and global concerns tend to achieve their outreach through research collaborations incentivised by a growing interest and incentivisation of translational research and the assessment of impact beyond academia. Particularly in state-funded institutions and as a means to justify government funding for academic research, there is an expectation that research funded by the taxpayer makes a tangible difference and contributes to culture, society, environmental sustainability and national prosperity. The key question for contemporary higher education across the world is how these two strands interrelate and respond to local and national circumstances, while maintaining and enabling international perspectives and experiences.

Panellists will explore the mechanisms and facets of academic and community relationships, nationally and internationally, both within and beyond the campus. These range from strategic approaches to community engagement, to learning spaces and to collaboration that engage and connect local actions with global concerns through the integration of learning and research.

Biographies

About the Presenter(s)
Julie Baer is the Deputy Director of Research, Evaluation & Learning (REL) at the Institute of International Education (IIE), United States.

Professor Laura R. Bronstein, ACSW, LCSWR, is Dean of the College of Community and Public Affairs, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Social Work, and Founding Director of the Couper-Owens Center for Community Schools at Binghamton University, United States.

Caroline Donovan White is the Senior Director for Education Abroad Services and Volunteer Engagement at NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

Professor Susan Piedmont-Palladino is an architect, professor of architecture, and the director of the Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC), the urban extension of the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design at Virginia Tech, United States.

Professor Anne Boddington is Executive Vice-President and Provost of IAFOR, and oversees the academic programs, research and policies of the forum.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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