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GLOBAL: Charting the growth of civic engagement

Civic engagement is a growing movement in higher education but to date there has been little serious study of exactly how universities around the world are going about it, according to Elizabeth Babcock, coordinator of the Talloires Network. Publication of The Engaged University: International perspectives on civic engagement should go some way to plugging this gap.

The book was unveiled at the Talloires Network Leaders' Conference in Madrid on 15 June and is co-authored by David Watson, Principal of Green Templeton College Oxford, Susan Stroud, Executive Director of Innovations in Civic Participation, Robert Hollister, Dean of Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University and Elizabeth Babcock.

It documents the work that 20 universities ranging from as far afield as Australia, India, the Philippines, Tanzania and Venezuela are doing in the field of civic engagement. In the process, it tells inspiring stories about how these universities are fighting to improve conditions for their local communities in many different ways.

The decision to pay special attention to views from the Southern universities is no accident. "Prior research on this topic concentrated mainly on the experience of the Global North," says Babcock, "our project aims ... to present a more balanced view, one that communicates the leadership and experience from the Global South."

Most of the universities profiled see their efforts as way of addressing urgent community and societal needs, such as combating poverty, improving public health and improving basic education. Many believe that students stand to benefit by participating in community work by developing values and leadership skills.

"For some schools, this is an important but lesser objective, while for others it is the key goal in any community engagement strategy," says Babcock.

The study also examines some of the reasons why more and more universities are getting involved in work with the community. In times of economic hardship, universities come under increasing pressure to give value for money and to be relevant. All this at a time when financial resources are diminishing but public expectations are growing.

"In the past, this might have led to a redoubling of focus on purely economic dimensions of the contributions of higher education: building human capital, research output, technological innovation and industry partnerships," says Babcock, "Today however there is increasing recognition of the social and civic contributions to development."

In her opinion, this backs up the beliefs of Belgian academic Jean-Marie de Ketele who, writing in the GUNI series on higher education, stated baldly, "The first and last criteria for assessing higher education should be social relevance."