Major Duties

• Participate and offer advice at all Engagement Australia Board meetings;
• Take a lead role on Board Committees as required;
• Initiate and prepare policy documents and project opportunities for Engagement Australia
• Other duties as decided by each committee annually.

The Board meets face-to-face four times each year and has regular meetings via teleconference.  The election will take place at the Annual General Meeting, to be held on Tuesday 16 July 2013 during the Next Steps: Co-producing Knowledge for Social Impact conference in Melbourne. If you are interested in nominating for the Board, please contact Jan Strom jan@engagementaustralia.org.au  for more information.

The post Call for Nominations – Engagement Australia Board appeared first on Engagement Australia.

Head to our conference registration page for full details

The post Early Bird Registrations Closing Soon appeared first on Engagement Australia.

Each day of the conference is themed, and a series of key questions have been developed to guide our discussion and reflection. These questions will be circulated to delegates in the weeks leading up to the conference for their consideration.

We start each day with a morning session that shares a range of international and national perspectives on the theme for that day. A facilitated Q&A with conference delegates and panellists will start the conversation each day

The first day explores the theme ‘creating a culture of engagement’ and will include a new session ‘in conversation with leaders in higher education’

The second day will emphasise student voice in community engagement, with a return of the popular student poster showcase and a new session ‘student perspectives of engagement’ that is facilitated by international guest Professor Ira Harkavy

A statement of good practice will be developed throughout the conference around the key question: “What are the fundamental principles that should guide the co-production of knowledge?

The full program will be developed over the coming weeks as presentations are finalised. Keep an eye on the website for regular updates.

View the Program here

The post 2013 Next Steps Conference Program appeared first on Engagement Australia.

Flinders University’s key strategic priority of ‘building supportive communities’ has been underscored with the University’s hosting of its fourth visiting scholar, Professor Saran Kaur Gill, under Engagement Australia’s (EA) 2013 Visiting Scholars and Experts program.

The EA program builds engagement depth, skills and capacity while increasing knowledge and understanding around specific and diverse areas of scholarship and practice. The program helps staff learn from engagement experiences, theories, practices from other parts of the world as well as providing a forum for exchanging good practises within Australia.

Professor Gill is advancing engagement in Asian higher education in two senior positions; the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Industry & Community Partnerships) at University Kebangsaan Malaysia (The National University of Malaysia – UKM),Executive Director of AsiaEngage where she leads a dynamic and rapidly growing engagement network of universities. AsiaEngage is committed to regional community-industry engagement and its ultimate power in transforming not only higher education, but communities as well.

Ms Penny Crocker, Head of Flinders Southern Knowledge Transfer Partnerships said her office was delighted to facilitate Flinders academics and professional staff with opportunities to hear from, and share experiences with Prof Gill in a series of workshops and one-to-one meetings. ‘This type of professional learning opportunity for staff particularly those involved in community engagement (outreach) and in international roles provides opportunities to learn via exemplar case studies and to have one –to- one conversation about the latest developments in community engagement both in Australia and internationally ”, she said. The workshops and meetings created space and time to learn and share ideas on ‘leading community engagement at an institutional level’ and ‘ASEAN Perspectives on Engagement, highlighting models and best-practices.

Professor Janice Orrell, Adjunct Professor with the School of Education, said Professor Gill’s session and meeting her in person was “an academic highlight moment for me making the time in the workshop well worth spending. This workshop was an interval in my academic life where I had time to profitably reflect on the place of universities in society and on the ethical, moral and practical stance they need to adopt in working and relating with industries and communities. While this was not a new topic for me, I found that Professor Gill’s presentation asked and answered critical and practical questions about the implementation and impact of taking a systematic institutional approach to Universities partnerships that helped me to move forward in my own thinking. Professor Gill’s capacity to move easily from ideology to policy to practice, by illustrating points of integration and alignment is inspiring. Her framework for knowledge driven and outcomes based engagement that is integrated in both the education and research missions of the university is profoundly useful for Flinders”

The post Applause for Visiting Scholars and Experts Program from Flinders University appeared first on Engagement Australia.

• Creating an Engagement Culture within Universities will be addressed by Professor Ira Harkavy. Prof Harkavy is Associate Vice President and founding Director of the Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships, University of Pennsylvania. As Director of the Netter Center since 1992, Harkavy has helped to develop service-learning courses as well as participatory action research projects that involve creating university-assisted community schools in Penn’s local community of West Philadelphia.
• Co-producing Knowledge will be addressed by Professor Budd Hall. Prof Hall is Professor of Community Development at University of Victoria, School of Public Administration. He is also Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education at UNESCO.
• Creating and Evaluating Social Impact will be addressed by Dr Peter Howard, Associate Professor within the Institute for Advancing Community Engagement of Australian Catholic University. As National Leader, Clemente Australia Program, Peter has collaborated with national agencies, universities and the corporate sector in developing community embedded socially supported education for Australians experiencing social isolation. Peter will be joined by Mary Campbell from the Institute for Advancing Community Engagement and also Suzanne Hunt-Tuzo, a graduate of the Clemente program.

Visit the 2013 conference page

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University Members are invited to nominate up to 2 students to submit a Proposal for a Poster and cover the student/s travel and accommodation costs. Six students will then be selected to join a panel discussion facilitated by Prof Ira Harkavy on student perspectives on engagement. Please email donna@engagementaustralia.org.au if your university would like to participate.

A copy of the nomination form can be downloaded here.

The post Student Showcase appeared first on Engagement Australia.

Through the Engagement Executives Network Engagement Australia will

1. Conduct an annual Engagement Executives Network meeting in conjunction with the Universities Australia Higher Education Conference in 2014 to support the opportunity to learn from others through knowledge sharing and exchange;
2. Seek to provide input into shaping ‘engagement’ policy as the opportunities arise.

Engagement Australia is promoting a common view of “engagement” as … ‘the cultivation of relationships that lead to productive partnerships which yield mutually beneficial outcomes to universities and their partners through the application and utilisation of university resources including staff, students, infrastructure and knowledge and across the breadth of university activities including Research, Education and Service.’

The post Executives of Engagement Meetings – March 2013 appeared first on Engagement Australia.

Our guest speaker Prof Saran Kaur Gill, is responsible for advancing engagement in Asian higher education in two senior executive positions: firstly, as the DVC (Industry & Community Partnerships) at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (The National University of Malaysia – UKM); and secondly, as the Executive Director of AsiaEngage where she leads a dynamic and rapidly growing engagement network of universities. She was joined by Dr Hamidah Yamat, Head of Programme (Masters), Faculty of Education, The National University of Malaysia (UKM) and Ms. Prabha Sundram, Manager, University-Community Partnerships Office, The National University of Malaysia (UKM).

Following the breakfast symposium, Prof Gill toured Australia as part of the 2013 Visiting Scholars and Experts program, where she and her colleagues were hosted by Edith Cowan and Curtin Universities (WA), Flinders University (SA), University of Southern Queensland and CQUniversity (Bundaberg, Rockhampton and Mackay campuses).

The post Leading Community Engagement Symposium – Perth appeared first on Engagement Australia.

Please note that papers must be received by Friday 31 May 2013 to be considered.

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