Could We Create a European Framework for Community Engagement in Higher Education?
The goal of this session is to examine whether there is an opportunity to develop innovative policy tools both at the university and the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) level for assessing externally and internally the community engagement of universities.
Community engagement is about mutually beneficial cooperation between universities and their wider communities. The session will include: 1. Analysis of different approaches to community engagement in higher education; 2. Mapping challenges connected with community engagement; 3. Discussion related to new developments in relation to community engagement; 4. Discussion about possible European framework for community engagement. There have been no initiatives yet at the EHEA level that have focused exclusively on community engagement. We will explain how a European Framework for Community Engagement in Higher Education might fill this gap and support universities in institutionalizing their cooperation with the wider community and to inform policy-makers on the value of such engagement.
This paper was presented at EQAF and reflects the views of the named authors only.
ISSN: 1375-3797
