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Latest News

Some 29 of Australia and New Zealand’s most exceptional university community-building and economic-advancement initiatives have been shortlisted in the Engagement Australia 2020 Excellence Awards.

November 10, 2020

The third decade of the 21st century is proving to be a time of great challenge and change for universities. Our future seems set to be one of social crisis, which at the same time is an educational crisis. The broadening and deepening themes of university engagement from business and industry to community in response to these crises pose fundamental questions of what our universal higher learning system should and can be.

September 30, 2020

Join university sector experts to discuss how universities can continue to support communities and prioritise community needs in the face of ongoing uncertainty – when the very definition of a university in Australia is in dispute.

September 16, 2020

The third decade of the 21st century is proving to be a time of great challenge and change for higher learning. The global pandemic we speak of as coronavirus has been declared a force majeure. It overrides previous considerations and requires the cancellation of what we know and have accepted as ‘normal’.

September 14, 2020

This week The New Social Contract podcast speaks to UTS Vice-Chancellor Attila Brungs and Shadow Minister for Education and Training, Tanya Plibersek, on their different visions for higher education in Australia in the face of the COVID pandemic.

June 24, 2020

This new Excellence Award program replaces the former BHERT Awards for Higher Education collaboration in Australia. Winners of BHERT Awards over the past 22 years have been outstanding nation-building initiatives, demonstrating far-reaching impact and innovation, in all sectors and aspects of the Australian economy and community.

May 27, 2020

Our Programs

View our range of online resources, live events and seminars and industry updates here.  Some of these items are available only to member institutions.  If you need a login, please register here.  If you would like to become a member visit our member page.

Leading the Engagement Agenda

Engagement Australia champions the unique role universities have with society to address contemporary global challenges and trends through teaching, learning, research and partnerships. We do this by:

Providing and inspiring leadership;
Developing capacity and future leaders;
Enabling peer-learning;
Providing practical tools and tips; and
Providing a platform for collaboration and knowledge creation.

Engagement Australia supports the wider contextual standard definition of community engagement, previously developed by the US-based Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which has succeeded in codifying the core characteristics and principles of community engagement.  It defines Community engagement as a method of teaching, learning and research that describes interactions between universities and their communities (business, industry, govt, NGOs, and other groups) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.

INNOVATIVE

SUPPORTIVE

STRATEGIC

COLLABORATIVE

“The hallmark of engagement is the development of partnerships that ensure a mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge between the University and the community.” Holland and Ramalay (2008:33).

Our Members