Futures for community engagement: A sociomaterial perspective

Abstract

Community engagement with higher education's teaching as well as in research is fast becoming a key strategy for universities to enhance their societal relevance. This strategy is only likely to continue in importance globally, judging from the emphasis among research funding councils on community engagement and impact, the Carnegie Institute's classification of community engagement (Driscoll 2008), or legislation for university outreach and service to community (Akpan et al. 2012). However perhaps inevitably given its categorical bagginess, there is still considerable conflict over just how universities can and should enable spaces for meaningful engagement of higher education with communities. Referred to variously as civic engagement, community partnerships, social responsiveness, and service learning, HE-community initiatives have been launched with diverse purposes and varying quality and success (Stewart and Webster 2008). Critics have highlighted conceptual and practical confusion, contested objectives, lack of coordination, lack of institutional commitment, and lack of clarity about the nature of community and of engagement (Akpan et al. 2012).