2025 EXCELLENCE AWARDS

Celebrate with us as we announce the winners of our annual Excellence Awards for Engagement

VOLUME 9 ISSUE 2
The Journal of Engaged Scholarship

Transform Journal

Universities, Social License, and Authentic Intelligence (AI) Now Live!

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Supporting Professional Learning & Peer Exchange

Engagement Australia

Engagement Australia is the peak alliance of Australian and New Zealand universities focused on developing the engagement agenda in higher education.

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Community Engagement Classification

Round 2 for the Carnegie Elective Classification is Now Open!

Carnegie

The Carnegie Community Engagement Classification allows universities to demonstrate their commitment to the communities they serve and to share good practices in the sector.

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About Engagement Australia

Engagement Australia is an alliance that supports and services its members and their various communities. Our membership includes 70% of Australian universities as well as private colleges, academic and professional Associate Members.

Community engagement allows universities the opportunity to play an important role of social responsibility in the local and broader vicinity they operate within.

Our main objective is to lead and facilitate the development of best practice university-community engagement in Australia. This is done through creating inclusive forums for discussion and development of engagement, promoting practice, fostering awareness, building capacity and developing resources. Through the work of our Board, committees and working groups, EA provides an array of professional development activities as well as networking opportunities to develop engagement knowledge, skills and capacity and build interactive networks, partnerships and other relationships within and between universities, business, industry, government and community-based organisations.

Engagement Australia – Committed to fostering engagement between higher education and communities.

Championing unique role universities have in society addressing contemporary challenges through teaching, research and partnerships.

Latest News

Engagement Australia Responds to Senate Inquiry on University Governance

Engagement Australia supports the recommendations of the Senate Inquiry that concern the primacy of education and research for the public good. Logically, EA supports any measures that can support and improve university governance in the sector with the recognition that stability regarding funding mechanisms and government priorities are an important part of this picture. Australian universities are too often left reeling from political decisions that upend university strategy and financial management. Notwithstanding, the need for improved governance in the sector is accepted.

December 19, 2025

Celebrating Engagement in 2025: A Message from the Chair

As 2025 comes to a close, I extend my warmest wishes to our members, partners, and friends. This year has underscored the fundamental importance of university engagement. Throughout Australia and New Zealand, universities have demonstrated leadership with conviction, reinforcing their status as public institutions that contribute significantly to our communities through teaching, research, professional practice, and collaborative partnerships.

December 11, 2025

Transform: The Journal of Engaged Scholarship Volume 9, Issue 2 Available Now

This issue brings together timely perspectives on universities as civic institutions, the challenges of sector contraction, and the opportunities offered by frameworks such as the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification.

November 24, 2025

2025 Engagement Australia Excellence Awards Winners Announced

Engagement Australia is pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 Engagement Australia Excellence Awards.

November 12, 2025

Finalists in the Engagement Australia 2025 Excellence Awards Announced

Some 35 of Australia and New Zealand’s most exceptional university community-building and economic-advancement initiatives have been shortlisted in the Engagement Australia 2025 Excellence Awards.

October 1, 2025

Certificate in Service-Learning Pedagogy and Practice

Engagement Australia is pleased to share this exciting professional development opportunity from our associate members at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)—a global leader in service-learning innovation.

September 14, 2025

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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.

TRANSFORM JOURNAL

EVENTS & SEMINARS

EXCELLENCE AWARDS

RESOURCES

CARNEGIE

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).