Engagement Australia’s Universities Accord Discussion Paper Response

Engagement Australia’s Universities Accord Discussion Paper Response

Engagement Australia is grateful for the opportunity to provide feedback on the Universities Accord discussion paper. Through consultation with representatives of our eighteen member universities we present 14 recommendations. Our full response can be found here.

Engaged scholarship should be a core part of the Accord. Beyond producing graduates and research, modern Australian universities need to be more explicitly connected to civic outcomes that advance society and are intrinsically tied to all functions of the university.

Incentive structures that encourage universities to prioritise engaged approaches should be developed. Primarily we advocate for the adoption of the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification system as a national benchmark to build capacity and evidence engaged practise.

Lastly, ‘Third Stream’ funding could support accountability mechanisms, infrastructure that nurtures community and industry partnership, exploration of place-based compacts and professional development to enable best-practise engaged approaches to teaching, research and practise.

We thank the Accord Panel for their encouragement to present bold ideas, and look forward to continuing to work together towards a higher education system that is equally bold in purpose and impact.