Redefining Excellence: A Strategic Policy Platform for Victorian Higher Education and Community Engagement

This report provides a current overview and analysis of the role of universities in local community development in the State of Victoria. Drawing on successful programs of community engagement in Victoria, Australia, Europe, Africa, and North America, the report proposes policy strategies for fostering community development for Victorian Higher Education through effective community engagement programs. Universities have been a perennial force for the development and maintenance of civil societies throughout the developed world. A significant part of the university's role in has been the enrichment of social well-being through active engagement with its local community. The two underpinning assumptions of this report are that universities have a civic responsibility to enhance the well-being of their communities, and that acting upon this responsibility will mutually benefit universities and their communities, generating long-term social, civic, and economic benefits. The key policy recommendations of the report are tied to the way community engagement programs are funded. However, it is clear that funding alone cannot and will not improve the effectiveness of community engagement programs. The meaning of within university cultures needs to be broadened so that academics and universities can be formally acknowledged for the clear benefits that effective community engagement projects deliver. Consequently, the central long-term policy strategy recommended here is oriented towards funding mechanisms that promote community oriented conceptions of among academics and university administrations, and which give excellent community engagement outcomes equivalent weighting as currently entrenched measures of excellence. The category of academic excellence typically refers to research, teaching, and scholarly dissemination of knowledge. Such activities are undoubtedly central to the healthy functioning of universities, but equally so is in our universities' civic engagements. But as long as definition of remains defined by funding regimes in current terms, community engagement outcomes will be less attractive for scholars and universities alike. A culture of publish or perish continues to prevail in universities, while service to the community goes largely unrewarded in respect of career advancement for scholars and for funding universities. This imbalance in funding priorities hinders the development of longer-term benefits which flow from effective community engagement programs, despite evidence that they have proven to be greatly beneficial. It is therefore the conclusion of this report that community engagement outcomes can only be sustained over the longer term if the achievement of in community engagement is encouraged by funding structures which reward such activities to the same degree as currently entrenched conceptions of excellence.