Why Community Engagement Principles?
Many faculty, individual groups have established principles to guide their community-university engagement initiatives. Protocol, established practices and formal agreements already exist at UBC to guide many aspects of community engagement: public events, community-based experiential learning, domestic or international partnerships, institutional or industry partnerships, community-based research, collaborative programming, etc. Learning from what exists, there is an opportunity to build a common set of overarching principles to inform community engagement at UBC.
As a part of curating an overall Community Engagement strategy for UBC, principles can create connections between initiatives of disparate backgrounds. They bring people together and provide a shared conversation topic. Beyond the utility of principles as a topic for engagement, principles can increase the rigor and quality of community engagement. They are decision-making tools. Principles act as a foundation for the development of engagement goals, objectives, and activities. For those involved in community-university engagement, principles are one way to defend and advocate for quality, while also acting as a guide for those new to the area.
What shared principles guide this work?
To begin fleshing out principles as a component of a Community Engagement strategy we are asking: what shared principles can we agree on to guide community-university engagement? We will be asking this question throughout the fall, in-person and one-on-one. To be involved in these conversations, click here or mali.bain@ubc.ca.
