This week, Hefce published a report which it commissioned last April to York Consulting titled Students: Experience, engagement and communities. The report is based on 10 case studies which explores different aspects of embedding public engagement (PE) into the institutional structure, as well as as bringing it into the student experience.
The report notes that the term ‘public engagement’ in fact had quite different definitions amongst all ten universities, with some identifying it as ‘community engagement, civic engagement or social responsibility.’ It was, however, a feature embedded within the approach of all institutions, with public engagement with research (PER) being the more developed than with teaching and learning (PETL).
It revealed that ‘all HEIs had a broad ambition to increase the volume of PE activity’ with key areas being:
- Recruitment of senior staff to lead on PE;
- Increased PE activity for undergraduates;
- Increased activity in targeted areas, for example, Public Patient Involvement and community projects;
- Scheduling of PE activities to improve planning and awareness;
- Establishing PE as an explicit element of staff reward and recognition processes;
- Implementing systems for monitoring and evidencing PE activities;
- Improved evaluation.
The ten institutions that took part in the research were:
- University of Bristol
- The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- Manchester Metropolitan University
- Queen Mary University of London
- University of East London
- University of Brighton
- University of Manchester
- University of Sheffield
- University of Winchester
- University of the West of England, Bristol
The case studies found that public engagement activities benefit both students and researchers:
Students benefit from seeing the results of their activities, increased confidence, improved communications skills and opportunities to enhance their learning. Researchers benefit in terms of increased confidence, improved communications skills and opportunities to test out theories or gather data. Students and researchers believe that their involvement in PE activities enhances their human capital, their employability and their curriculum vitae (CV).