Higher Education Civic Engagement: Project or Orientation

Abstract

The question of how higher education institutions engage with society is gaining more prominence, and is highlighted as a future strategic direction in the 2011 Hunt Report.  However, the term engagement is variously understood and interpreted, and raises ideological and political issues for institutions. This paper considers the conceptual issues around engagement, and looks at the varied definitions around the social/civic/community interpretation. It then moves to look at how both the practice and politics of civic engagement are influenced by institutional values and priorities. Consequently, civic engagement may be perceived as a project on the margins or a way of orienting and infusing institutional activities. The paper ends by examining how civic engagement can be moved from the periphery to the core of institutional life and activities.