AUCEA Charter and Principles of University
Community Engagement

AUCEA Charter

Our primary object is:

Lead and facilitate the development of best practice University-Community Engagement in Australia

Our supporting objects are to:

1. Provide an inclusive forum for the discussion and development of university-community engagement, encouraging collaboration, innovation, the exchange of knowledge and the scholarship of engagement;
2. Promote scholarly practice and mutually beneficial engagement;
3. Foster awareness and build capacity in university-community engagement best practise;
4. Facilitate collaborative research in university-community engagement within and beyond our organisation;
5. Promote the integration of engagement into curriculum and the student experience;
6. Promote the recognition of the scholarship of engagement;
7. Collaboratively develop resources that support university-community engagement; and
8. Do all other lawful things as are incidental or conducive to the attainment of these objects.

AUCEA defines the following principles as applying to the Engaged University:

1. University community engagement is based on a mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and expertise between universities and communities
2. The university produces graduates who are ethical and engaged citizens.
3. The university engages with its communities to create a more accessible, outward reaching and inclusive society.
4. The university identifies its communities by acknowledging community values, culture, knowledge and skills, and works with those communities to develop a mutually-beneficial agenda.
5. Engaged research is designed, managed and disseminated as a partnership that addresses both academic and community priorities.
6. Engaged learning and teaching programs respond to individual and community needs and opportunities and links to specific learning goals and experiences for students. Programs are designed and managed in partnership with communities, and are socially inclusive and globally and locally relevant.
7. Community Engagement is embedded in the governance, operations, budget, curricula, plans, policies and life of the university.
8. Engaged universities articulate their mission, culture and values for the community, and regularly reflect on these in the context of community conditions and partnerships.
9. The University and community work together to monitor partnerships, measure impacts, evaluate outcomes, and make improvements to their shared activities