DAVID WOLFF, DIRECTOR. Cupp Aims to become recognised as a leading UK university for the quality and range of its work in economic and social engagement.

DAVID WOLFF,

DIRECTOR

Cupp Aims

“to become recognised as a leading UK universityfor the quality and range of its work in economic and social

engagement and productive partnerships”. Aim 3. Corporate Plan

– Ensure that the University's resources (intellectual and physical) are available to, informed by and used by its local and sub-regional communities

– Enhance the community's and University's capacity for engagement for mutual benefit

– Ensure that Cupp’s resources are prioritised towards addressing inequalities within our local communities

Snapshot before 2003

University formed from a combination of local trade colleges. Historical emphasis on vocational and applied work

A number of committed, engaged academics working individually with the community and without explicit support from the institution

No central and formalised links with community groups although pockets of activity

Minimal reference to community engaged scholarship in the corporate plan

No committed central funding for community engagement

No coherent community engagement philosophy

Scepticism from community and university about the worth of investing in community-university relations

Snapshot Dec 2009

• Expanded Helpdesk - 1000 plus enquiries from community organisations • 400 plus students annually involved in community engagement projects• 100 plus knowledge exchange partnership projects initiated• Over 120 academics actively involved with Cupp, including a strong cross-

institution senior researchers group (including 6 professors) • A dozen active communities of practice (for example: older people, children

and families, lesbian and gay community)• A dedicated and centrally funded infrastructure supporting community

engagement • Structured links with community organisations through co-ownership of

governance, co-ownership of projects, strong involvement in communities of practice, co-delivery of research seminars and fora

• Extensive dissemination: Book, papers, films, conferences• Winner Times Higher Education award for outstanding contribution to local

community 2008

How we organise

• Cupp development team - 4 development managers, 2 administrators and a Director

• Academic directorship - 2 senior academics located in academic departments 20 senior researchers from Brighton and Sussex

• Helpdesk – access point to university and responsive service to enquirers

• Student community engagement – curriculum development that enable students to work on community projects

• Knowledge Exchange -significant projects that involve community university partnership

• Communities of practice – clusters of projects centred around a key theme

• Research and Development – support and consultancy to community university partnerships nationally and globally

Learning points

Win-wins: Mutually beneficial outputs Define it ‘in the doing’ Play to the community’s and university’s strengths: Programme designed

with local picture in mind Court community and academic practitioners: We invested a lot of time and

energy in relationship building and offering things Bi-cameral structure works for us Use short term projects as base for long term relationship building Use community-university brokers: we need people who understand both

environments and speak both languages Emphasise ‘practice’ and relationships rather than organisational form or

structure: ‘Communities of practice Manage change within the university

• Top down and bottom up support required• Centrally owned and locally hosted within a school

Stop moaning and get on with it

Institutional development at Brighton

2003 Cupp initiated as expiremental development2004 Hefce funds community knowledge exchange2007 Corporate plan and core funding for Cupp2008 Hefce funds Coastal Communities Programme2008 Audit of commmunity engagement completed2009 Social engagement strategy agreed2009 New department of economic and social

engagement

Academic debates

Purpose of higher education institutions• Contribution to locality

• Widening participation

• Student experience

• Applied research and research assessment - impact

• Funding models

• Social capital

Partnership working in complex environments• Communities of practice

Audit and evaluation• 7 dimensions model

• Piloting Bradford REAP evaluation model

Cupp network on the webwww.cuppcop.ning.com

Cupp newsSign up for email updates

www.cupp.org.uk

“Community university partnerships in practice”Edited by Angie Hart, Elizabeth Maddison and David Wolff

www.niace.org.uk/publications/C/comm-university.asp