Carnegie classification for community engagement now offered to Australian unis

Universities can now test the effectiveness of their community engagement against an internationally recognised standard.

Universities can now measure the effectiveness of their community engagement against an internationally recognised standard.

For the first time Australian universities are being invited to test their level of social engagement against internationally recognised standards established by the US-based Carnegie Foundation.

Applications open this Friday for universities to join the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, which is being launched in an Australian version. UTS pro vice-chancellor (social justice and inclusion) Verity Firth said the classification was an accreditation that affirmed a university met the “gold standard” for community engagement.

To achieve accreditation a university needs to show it has a whole of institution commitment to community engagement and public service outcomes.

READ MORE: Verity Firth on the new community engagement standard for universities

Professor Firth said that in order to reach the standard, community engagement must be integral to a university’s teaching and research.

For example, it’s not enough for a university to run breakfast for children at a local school. It needs to be going beyond and, for example, doing research on school attendance as part of the breakfast program.

Universities also need to show they are partnering with the community in a way that is mutually beneficial – both the university and the community must gain.

The launch of the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification in Australia comes after 10 universities participated in a pilot led by UTS and Charles Sturt University from 2018 to 2020.

Examples of community engagement in the pilot group include Western Sydney University’s Medicine in Context program, in which the university works with general practitioners to immerse medical students with communities, and its partnerships with Aboriginal medical services which leads to all medical students doing a five week placement in a rural Aborginal community as part of their Indigenous health curriculum.

The pilot program led to the Australian Carnegie community standard being established differently to the one in the US.

“One big gap in the US is that there is no recognition of Indigenous knowledge and learning,” Professor Firth said. In the Australian standard, universities will be required to address this.

Professor Firth said that, in the wake of Covid, “where some of society’s biggest and most difficult challenges have come to a head”, it was a good time to adopt the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification.

“As we rebuild and recover, rich and mutually beneficial partnerships between major institutions and the communities they serve are of the utmost importance,” she said.

The local Carnegie Community Engagement Classification will be run by Engagement Australia, the peak body for university engagement. Universities can apply to be members and join a community of practice that includes networking, online training and workshops. Separately they can choose to be accredited.