report of the first asian visiting scholar & expert's knowledge sharing visit to australian...

Report of the First Asian Visiting Scholar & Expert's Knowledge

Sharing Visit to Australian Universities

11th – 20th March 2013

First Asian Visiting Scholar & Expert's Knowledge Sharing Visit to Australian Universities March 2013 2

REPORT OF THE FIRST ASIAN VISITING SCHOLAR & EXPERT'S KNOWLEDGE SHARING VISIT

TO AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents Page

1. Introduction 3

2. Agenda 5

3. Presentations

A. Leading Community Engagement at an Institutional Level 6

B. ASEAN Perspectives on Engagement: Highlighting Models and Best Practice 17

4. Moving Forward: AUN USR&S@AsiaEngage and Engagement Australia -

Synergies and Potential Collaboration 25

5. Conclusion 26

Appendix

Applause for Visiting Scholars and Experts Program from Flinders University 27


1. INTRODUCTION

Prof. Dato’ Dr. Saran Kaur Gill was invited by Engagement Australia to be their first Asian visiting

scholar from 11th to 20th of March 2013. This invitation, which is part of Engagement Australia’s

Visiting Scholars and Experts Programme, was initiated under the leadership of their Chair, Professor

Pierre Viljoen, and coordinated by their Executive Officer, Dr. Jan Strom. This long standing and

successful ‘member only’ program is designed to build engagement depth, skills and capacity while

increasing knowledge and understanding around specific and diverse areas of scholarship and

practice from other parts of the world as well as through exchanging good practice within Australia.

Prof. Dato’ Dr. Saran is responsible for advancing engagement in Asian higher education in two

senior executive positions: firstly, as the DVC (Industry & Community Partnerships) at Universiti

Kebangsaan Malaysia (The National University of Malaysia – UKM); and secondly, as the Executive

Director of AsiaEngage where she leads a dynamic and rapidly growing engagement network of

universities. She was joined by Dr. Hamidah Yamat, Ambassador for Industry & Community

Partnerships UKM and Head of Programme (Masters), Faculty of Education UKM and Ms. Prabha

Sundram, Manager, University-Community Partnerships UKM. The overarching aim of Prof Saran’s

visit was to share her knowledge and perspectives on engagement so as to assist Engagement

Australia’s member universities to develop and promote a stronger and more sustainable culture of

engagement within their own universities as well as across Australian higher education.

Prof. Dato’ Dr. Saran began her Australian visit on the 11th of March in Perth, with a Breakfast

Symposium for 40 members of Western Australian universities and community groups hosted by

Engagement Australia. Following the breakfast symposium, Prof Dato’ Dr. Saran toured Australia as

part of the 2013 Visiting Scholars and Experts program, where she and her colleagues were hosted

by Edith Cowan and Curtin Universities (WA), Flinders University (SA), University of Southern

Queensland and CQUniversity (Bundaberg, Rockhampton and Mackay campuses).

During her tour, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Saran promoted high impact community engagement projects and

programmes that are being carried out in ASEAN and Asia that Australia can take lessons from while

also learning from the Australian experience. In several universities, she also led workshop sessions

which focused on four key areas; the role and functions of University-Community and Industry

Engagement Offices, the Governance systems and management structure for integrating University

and community engagement across research, education and service, schemes, modalities and

criteria for promotion systems for academics and fund generation and funding support for university

and community engagement.

Prof. Dato’ Dr. Saran’s interactive sessions were attended by university academics, executives and

senior management personnel, as well as those who are active or seeking to be active in university-

community engagement activities from business & industry, community and local government and

higher education – academic and professional staff as well as students.

During the tour, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Saran reiterated that industry and community engagement is not

new in many universities, but what is new are efforts to coordinate and systematize and

professionalise this area as compared to the traditional mainstays of research and innovation and

academic and student affairs. This will incorporate issues pertinent for the institutionalization, the

implementation, the monitoring and review to ensure quality, the evaluation of impact, the


recognition and promotion criteria and the necessary interventions needed in terms of capacity

building. This was the main message articulated in both of her presentations, which were titled

“Asian Perspective on Engagement: Highlighting models and best-practice” and “Leading Community

Engagement at an Institutional Level.”

She also reiterated UKM’s commitment in creating the multiplier effect and synergies in Community

and Industry Engagement across ASEAN and Asia through regional platforms. UKM hosts the

secretariat of two networks- the Asia-Talloires Network of Industry and Community Engaged

Universities (ATNEU) and the ASEAN University Network's Thematic Network on University Social

Responsibility and Sustainability (AUN USR&S). In addition, UKM works collaboratively with the

ASEAN Secretariat and the Ministry of Youth and Sports to lead in the development and

implementation of the ASEAN Youth Volunteer Program (AYVP). All three entities work in

partnership across ASEAN and Asia through the regional alliance called 'Asia Engage'. All these

networks/programme under AsiaEngage aim to create mutually beneficial partnerships between the

Research, Education and Volunteerism missions of higher education with industry and community

stakeholders across ASEAN and Asia.


2. AGENDA

The following agenda depicts the general format of the visit programme at the participating universities (Edith Cowan and Curtin Universities (WA), Flinders University (SA), University of Southern Queensland and CQUniversity - Bundaberg, Rockhampton and Mackay campuses), and flexibility was provided as to the areas selected for their respective sharing of best practices and capacity building sessions.

9.00-9.30am Delegation to meet with Head of Campus

9.30-10.00am Registration

10.00-10.10am Welcome & Introduction

10.10-10.40am 1st Presentation by Prof. Dato’ Dr. Saran Kaur Gill

‘Leading Community Engagement at an Institutional Level’

10.40-10.50am Q&A

10.50-11.10am Morning Tea

11.10-11.40am 2nd Presentation by Prof. Dato’ Dr. Saran Kaur Gill

‘ASEAN Perspectives on Engagement: Highlighting models and best-practice’

11:40am–12.30pm Group discussions

Group 1: Role and functions on University-Community and Industry

Engagement Offices

Group 2: Governance systems and management structure for integrating

university and community engagement across research, education and

service

Group 3: Schemes, modalities and criteria for promotion systems for

academics, recognition and rewards for University& Community

Engagement

Group 4: Fund generation and funding support for University& Community

Engagement

12.30-1.10pm Presentation of group discussion outcomes

1.10-2.00pm Lunch

2.00-2.45pm Delegation Campus Tour


3. PRESENTATIONS

A. Leading Community Engagement at an Institutional Level

Prof. Dato’ Dr. Saran Kaur Gill

I must thank Engagement Australia for the title of the presentation but I personally would not assume to

be “Leading Community Engagement” – I am not sure yet if I have earned it. If I look back at my efforts

over the last five years, I would describe them more as planning, strategising and plodding with tenacity

and perseverance and with plenty of patience and prayer, to drive community engagement forward

institutionally, nationally and regionally.

Whilst preparing this paper, I came across an amazing book on The Art of Collaboration which was

based on the 15th century Chinese Admiral Zheng He who ‘braved unchartered waters in his voyage to

the Western Ocean in the 15th Century and victoriously generated goodwill by building the desired

sustainable long-term collaborative relationships in every territory he visited.’

I do not assume to be anywhere close to Admiral Zheng He in terms of strength of bravery and

adventure but would like to adopt his best practice of the Art of Collaboration and in the same way as

Zheng He did, forge collaborative partnerships as I travel on this exciting journey across this wonderful

country of yours, Australia.

As the first Asian Scholar invited by Engagement Australia to participate in this prestigious Visiting

Scholar and Expert Program, I look forward to working with all of you, to exchange knowledge and

experiences, and to generate goodwill amongst ourselves and help us develop and strengthen this

collaborative relationship between Engagement Australia and AsiaEngage.

Community Engagement across Australia, Malaysia and ASEAN

Many universities in ASEAN, as well as Australia and in many other parts of the world have worked in

the area of community and industry engagement for a very long time – this is not new. But what is

relatively new and more difficult are efforts to coordinate, systematize and professionalize

engagement. This will incorporate issues pertinent for the institutionalization, the implementation,

the monitoring and review to ensure quality, the evaluation of impact, the recognition and

promotion criteria and the necessary interventions needed in terms of capacity building.

Universities face tremendous challenges as they strive to implement all that has been mentioned.

The reasons for this challenging situation have been attributed by Goddard and Puukka, 2008 and

Goddard and Vallance, 2010, as: “the lack of support across national and institutional systems, a gap

between strategic plans and operational systems, lack of funding streams and promotional

recognition and lack of capacity building to develop qualities essential for engagement.”

I agree with all that has been articulated as challenges and will now take you through how we have

dealt with some of them at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (referred to as UKM in this

presentation), a Research University. This will trace the journey of coordinating and systematizing


industry and community engagement at UKM and how we have developed a regional alliance to

share and provide solutions that could be adopted at the ASEAN and Asian levels.

UKM’s Governance Eco-System for Engagement

If a university wants to drive this area forward seriously, then there has to be a clear governance

system developed for this and there has to be space and visibility for this area at the senior

management level of a university. Let me share Malaysia’s experience with you.

On the 1st Sept 2007, the Ministry of Higher Education in Malaysia established a new senior

management portfolio, that of Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Industry and Community Partnerships.

This is for the four research universities in Malaysia. The aim of this was to systematically and

gainfully reduce the gap between the “ivory towers” and that of community and industry

stakeholders.

When I was first appointed as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Industry and Community Partnerships) there

were no guidelines as to how this portfolio should be driven.

The Clarification and Definition of Community and Industry Engagement

There were two matters that emerged very strongly early on – the first was the need to clarify and

conceptualise what industry and community partnerships is all about so that we all have a clear

understanding and direction of how we should work towards it. The second was the need to

establish a clear governance system and structure.

In the beginning, I was continually told that my portfolio will deal with the third mission of the

university – that of service. “Service” as the third mission of the university, separate from research

and teaching and learning, focuses on an act of helpful activity- to do someone a service, what is

involved in volunteerism; and this is extremely valuable for ensuring that we give with our hearts,

hands and minds back to society.

This is a very important third mission but the richness of what community and industry engagement

can offer would not be maximised if it was located only in the third mission. Russel Botman, the first

black President of the University of Stellenboch, states that it is a challenge “to rid ourselves of the

old paradigm of “community service” that keep us captive and to arrive at a more reciprocal concept

that emphasises partnership and mutual benefit.” (Botman, H. R. (2010). Hope in Africa: Human

Development Through Higher Education Community Interaction, Talloires Network Bellagio

Conference).

The philosophy that needed to be adopted and that was very clear from the very beginning was that

community and industry engagement (if carried out well) has to be integrated across research,

education and service to maximise its potential and enrich the core missions of the university. The

term 'Service' is not broad enough to sufficiently encompass and capture the diverse range of


activities and initiatives which involve engagement with industry and communities which

encompasses the richness of knowledge exchange, carried out with various multi-sectoral partners,

enriching multi-disciplinary endeavours, through respectful discussion in mutually beneficial ways.

This area of industry and community engagement should not be regarded as the third mission – its

value is maximized through integration by supporting and enriching the core missions of the

university – research, education and service (volunteerism).

Governance System and Structures, Policy and Implementation which Direct and Support

University-Industry/Community Partnerships at UKM

We move now to UKM’s Governance Eco-System for Engagement that we have developed after five

years in the job.

My appointment increased the number of Deputy Vice-Chancellors to 4. This is to support the Chief

Executive of the institution – the Vice-Chancellor. At UKM we are led by a very dynamic woman

leader – Prof Sharifah Hapsah Shahabudin, the VC. The three existing Deputy Vice-Chancellors or

Deputy Presidents are DVC of Academic and International Affairs, DVC of Research and Innovation

and DVC of Student and Alumni Affairs. I am the DVC of industry and community partnerships.

Herein lay the challenge.

Given that the core missions of the university are driven by three other Deputy Vice-Chancellors - it

is crucial therefore, for clear governance systems and operational guidelines to be developed to

facilitate effective and efficient engagement across the portfolios, underpinned with strong

understanding, respect and cooperation.

To facilitate this, the approach adopted was that the DVC of industry and community partnership’s

role is to support and strengthen the core missions of research, education and service through

innovative industry and community engagement partnerships.

The DVC of Industry and Community Partnerships office is made up of three strong depts. – the

Industry-Liaison Office, the University-Community Partnerships Office and the Chancellor’s

Foundation (which deals with fund generation). Policy and guidelines developed at top

management levels need to be implemented at the faculty level across the university. To ensure this

happens, each faculty has appointed an academic as Head of Industry and Community Partnerships.

These offices work closely with the Vice Chancellor and other DVC’s (academic, research and student

affairs), Faculty Deans, Institute Directors, and other senior UKM staff, and together, we provide

direction, coordination and support to staff and students in working together to achieve the UKM

industry and community engagement vision.

Having the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Industry and Community Partnerships) is one part of

the equation, the other part of the equation is to get the work done. When I first assumed this


responsibility, I had the opportunity to visit the UK and met with Sir David Watson who was the Vice-

Chancellor of the University of Brighton and who drove Civic and Community Engagement at

Brighton and beyond. His advice to me was, “in this area of forging partnerships more than any

other, was not to adopt a philosophy of “delegating and abdicating.” You need to see the process of

developing partnerships with external stakeholders through until it is ready to be implemented by

the respective offices with clear guidelines, roles and responsibilities delineated.” (Verbal

communication, 2008).

This is not to say that Engagement takes place at only one central point, engagement with external

stakeholders can take place at multiple entry points – it could be through my offices, through

research centres, through the faculties and through individual academics. But it would be the role of

this senior management position and its offices to not only create opportunities but also to

coordinate and systematise, monitor and review and professionalise industry and community

engagement across the university.

Style of Leadership

The second challenge that emerged was the style of leadership. “What does it mean to lead in this

portfolio?”

Given that it was a supportive role that one had to play, one did not have clear lines of authority

over any stakeholder. Instead, to obtain the buy-in, one had to convince and persuade academics

and industry, NGOs and community of the value of this field, one had to show them what we could

do for them. It was not a situation of “Do as I say” Instead it was “work with us and we would be

able to add value and strength to what we will be able to do for you and society.” We had to show

them how working with us can bring tremendous value to their research and teaching and learning –

we have succeeded on a number of occasions and once they appreciated this, the pathways were

entrenched to a future of engaged journeys.

The word that best describes the nature of leadership in this field is that of stewardship, which has

been taken from a recent World Bank report. The Deputy Vice-Chancellors of Industry and

Community Partnerships have to “to exercise stewardship to coordinate and handle actors and

interactions not under their full control but critical to the performance of the sector.” (The World

Bank: 2012) They need to lead in the development and application of multi-stakeholder

collaboration and to do this, it is essential to be sincere and giving and to be able to develop trust

and forge relationships so that they have confidence in the “steward” and this applies to all levels of

partnerships across the multi-sectors.

Policy Guidelines for Effective Stakeholder Engagement

Engagement with external stakeholders, if done well, brings tremendous visibility and enhances the

profile of the institution. But when done badly, creates negative and sometimes irreparable damage

to the institution. When an academic deals with a member of industry or community, he or she

does not represent himself or herself individually. Instead you represent the institution and it is the


name of the institution that you carry with you. Therefore, acquiring competencies to work

effectively and with sensitivity with external stakeholders is absolutely critical.

The education of internal stakeholders (academics and students) on effective engagement is very

important. As a start for this, we have developed two policy papers – the first is the Guidelines for

Carrying out Sustainable and Productive Industry and Community Engagement at UKM, which covers

pretty much what has been presented so far and more, and the second is a detailed Engagement

Policy Guidelines Document which sets out clear management processes, systems and procedures to

develop meaningful, sustainable, considerate & productive interactions with both internal and

external stakeholders. The processes delineate guidelines for various stages in the continuum of

engagement including Engagement Planning, Preparation and Negotiation, Finalizing Engagement,

Implementation, Monitoring and Reporting and Gaining feedback from external partners.

It is important for higher education institutions to have standard operating procedures, systems and

processes that are clear to everyone in our pursuit of effective engagement with both industry and

community players.

Promotional criteria

The major challenge for institutions of higher learning is not preaching to the converted but

persuading those driven by traditional promotion criteria that there is value, relevance and

excitement in engaging with community and industry partners to enhance research, teaching and

service.

Initiating, developing and sustaining relationships with external stakeholders is very rewarding but

time-consuming and takes academics away from their core business of being an academic as it is

framed with present promotional criteria. Until and unless we can work into promotional criteria

the value of these efforts of building up relationships and the valuable outcomes, it will just be

confined to those who are passionate and committed and it will be an uphill struggle to create

impact across the university.

Therefore there is a need to work out clearly how this can be done for each of the key components

of research, education and service with clear examples so that it promotes greater understanding,

acceptance and application in the academic environment. We have included this in the Guidelines

Policy Paper.

This then takes us to the reward system and criteria for promotion for catalysing university-industry-

community collaboration.

There were two ways that we could have approached this: one is by developing - through promotion

criteria - a third strand for industry and community engagement and developing indicators for this.

We decided against this as it would have put it in direct competition with the other two strands of

education and research. We wanted to maintain our philosophy of working in cooperation and


support with the others and therefore felt that it was important to integrate industry and

community engagement as it supports research, education and service and not to regard it as a

separate stream. Therefore, we have 50% for research, 30% for education and 20% for service with

industry and community engagement supporting all three, thus for each component you have

criteria and indicators that provides recognition of industry and community engagement.

After a challenging journey that took more than 2 years since July 2010, we have finally got approval

of this integrative model for promotion. All academics now have two streams through which they

can be promoted – the research stream and the teaching and learning stream. They cannot be

promoted on service but it is compulsory for them to participate in this. We have developed

minimum levels of achievement and maximum criteria of excellence for each.

Scholarship of Engagement and Capacity Enhancement

To ensure that this field is taken seriously and is not considered a soft option, it is essential that the

scholarship of engagement for community based research, teaching and learning and volunteerism

is developed. Ahmed Bawa (2007) supports this by stressing that,

“An important challenge therefore is to understand how to shape programmes of

community-based engagement so that they are philosophically and conceptually located

within the core functions of the university. This would be different from supporting them

from the edge, and requires moving them to the centre. The one way of doing this is by

placing community-based engagement firmly within a knowledge production framework so

that the kinds of knowledge production and knowledge dissemination in community-based

engagement activities are in competition with ‘high’ knowledge – knowledge that forms the

basis of a traditional university.” (Ahmed C. Bawa, 2007:59)

Academics who work in this field must ensure that their community engagement is research-driven

and publications are of quality and they can be rewarded in terms of promotion based on the

publications that have emerged out of all the wonderful work that is being carried out with multiple

stakeholders to solve integral problems of communities.

We encourage all those involved in community engagement initiatives to publish in discipline-based

journals that have a high-impact value – if not in Q1 journals, at least in Q2. It is necessary to do this

as this is the way to centralise the knowledge that is generated in the field of community

engagement and for it to attain academic legitimacy.

Capacity Building

Another integral area that had to be seen to was capacity development especially for the field of

engagement. This is not something that all can be involved in naturally – the following are the areas

that could support capacity development – social participatory research, skills and competencies for

effective stakeholder engagement, examining the social impact of community engaged projects in

terms of the extent to which they enhance the quality of life of the target community through social,


economic, environmental, health, education or technological development; Skills and competencies

to access funding for industry and community engagement amongst others.

As part of capacity building, we recently organized a platform for all in the university to present work

related to community engagement that they have been involved in. The response was

overwhelming and we had academics who were amazed at what their colleagues were working on

and that they never knew of before. Being able to provide forums where good practices can be

shared and learnt from is an integral part of capacity development. But it is also important to make

them aware of criteria and indicators that need to be achieved to ensure that their work is

productive and sustainable and helps improve the quality of life of the community.

At various forums that my colleagues and I have attended, we have always been asked to share the

knowledge and experience that we have gained over the years. We then felt that it was valuable to

take this to the regional level to create the multiplier effect and synergies in community and industry

engagement through regional platforms.

Creating multiplier effect and synergies in Community and Industry Engagement across ASEAN and

Asia through Regional Platforms

UKM has gained the confidence and trust of many international organisations and is suitably

positioned to create the multiplier effect across ASEAN. One opportunity came about when UKM

worked with the Talloires Network to set up a regional partnership, the Asia-Talloires Network of

Industry and Community Engaged Universities (ATNEU) at UKM and this was established in January

2011. The Talloires Network is a network of over 200 universities in 59 countries around the globe

that has a passion for university social responsibility and civic engagement.

Following on from this, UKM’s bid and proposal to be secretariat of the ASEAN University Network’s

thematic network on USR&S was endorsed in July 2011 by the AUN Board of Trustees at their

meeting in Luang Prabang, Laos. The Malaysian Minister of Higher Education, being a strong

advocate of the benefits of university-industry-community collaborations, has presented the ATNEU

proposal to the Malaysian Ministerial Cabinet where it has been endorsed by the Prime Minister

and cabinet Ministers.

The next opportunity came at this very meeting in Luang Prabang, Laos. The Asean Secreatariat

approached UKM to submit a proposal to lead in the development of the ASEAN Youth Volunteer

Programme. In October 2011, at Hanoi, we presented the proposal and the ASEAN member states

through the ASEAN Secretariat endorsed UKM to develop and implement the ASEAN Youth

Volunteer Programme (AYVP).

With two secretariats and a programme, we felt that we needed to create an identity – therefore we

created the regional alliance of “AsiaEngage”. All these networks/programme under AsiaEngage aim

to maximise strengths and create mutually beneficial partnerships between the Research, Education

and Volunteerism missions of higher education with industry and community stakeholders across

ASEAN and Asia. AsiaEngage was formally launched in May 2012 at our regional conference


organized in partnership with the Talloires Network, the ASEAN University Network and the Ministry

of Higher Education. The conference report is with you.

Conclusion

Before I end, I would like to share with you what I gained from the Beijing Forum, held from the 2nd

to 4th November 2012, at the University of Peking. I had the privilege to hear the former President

of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam present the keynote address on “The Evolution of a Peaceful and

Prosperous Planet Earth”. I draw your attention to it specifically for one key message – where he

says that we need to work on global platforms made up of a network of universities, private sector

and communities – researching and synergizing core competencies to find knowledge-driven

solutions in a multi-national manner. His message provides the much-needed affirmation and

validation of all that we have been working towards.

This echoes what had been advocated at the Engagement Australia Conference held in Brisbane, in

July last year, where I expressed that it would be extremely valuable given our geographical,

historical and cultural proximity to explore ways in which Engagement Australia and AsiaEngage

together with our industry, NGO and community partners, could generate and share new

knowledge to create solutions to solve problems faced by communities in the areas of the

environment and climate change, rural development and poverty eradication, education and

technology development and others. As we do this, we should also further the mission of

community engagement by professionalizing the field through research, publications and capacity

building. Let us be trailblazers for ASEAN-Australian partnership in this AGE OF COLLABORATION.

_________________________________________________________________________

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Promotional Criteria for Industry & Community Engagement Integrated across Research, Education

& Service

We need to show academics how they can achieve their research and publications KPIs and yet work

at ensuring their knowledge is applicable and benefits communities. To quote from Furco (2001)

“service learning needs to be connected to faculty’s research and scholarly agendas, be tied to the

university’s research mission and be integrated into the discipline-based, academic work of

departments.” (Furco, 2001) If community engagement is to be taken seriously, then it has to be

integrated into the mainstream research and publications agenda.

In Research, recognition is given for:

- Leadership in collaborative research, knowledge exchange partnerships and consultancy

with various partners (industry, foundations, NGOs, community)

- Generating funds and endowments for collaborative engaged research in the university’s

niche areas of excellence


In Teaching & Learning, academics are recognized for:

- Developing innovation in curriculum and co-curriculum in collaboration with

industry/NGO/govt. agencies

- Undergoing attachment in industry/NGO/govt. agencies, thus enhancing the quality of

teaching and learning based on the outcome of the attachment

- Generating funding support from industry/NGO/govt. agencies to support activities that

enhance the teaching & learning

In Service, recognition is accorded for providing service through productive and sustainable

knowledge-driven volunteerism initiatives that enhance the quality of life for communities, and

empower communities through capacity building initiatives for the development of community

champions. The projects may involve multi-sector stakeholders (academic staff, non-academic staff

and/or students, NGOs and community, industries and foundation or government agencies) and may

be at university, national or regional levels.

Research Grants for Industry & Community Based Research

It is important to carry out research to be able to obtain evidence based data to be able to

determine impact and possibly behavioural change with regards the interventions of community

based teaching and learning and volunteerism. To encourage this, we have instituted a research

grant for initiatives that have demonstrated value and social impact called the “The University-

Community Research Grant.”

Seed funding is provided by UKM for research projects that demonstrate the following criteria:

Engage with the community in collaborative research through consultative process or

community profiling to identify needs and challenges of the community.

Demonstrate sustainability by securing matching contribution from private sector

stakeholders (foundations/industries/philanthropists) through their CSR mission.

Demonstrate clear and measurable outcomes in terms of research output and the impact on

community development and empowerment

Demonstrate positive impact on teaching & learning through the development of

community-based competencies in students, or the integration of core project elements into

the curriculum

From the early days, one of the features that we have found is that a number of academics regard

the community as a research site. The approach taken by them is “I come from a university and

know what is good for you and therefore would like to carry out research on this area.” What this

has raised is the essential need to carry out capacity enhancement so that academics gain

knowledge of the “know-how” of community engagement to ensure that their work is collaborative,

considerate, respectful and extends from consulting and discussing with the communities at the very

initial levels of planning for research-driven community development and eventually leading onto

the empowerment of communities. There is a need to break academics from the notion that

universities are the sole custodians of knowledge and that they have just as much to learn from

communities and various other multiple sites of knowledge generation than they have to give. We


focus a lot on the term knowledge transfer, it is essential in this partnership era to start using

knowledge exchange. It breaks the universities away from the idea that they are the sole custodians

and developers of knowledge, and exemplifies that they have just as much to learn from the

communities and the larger society (Gill, S.K. in the Draft Report of 2nd Asia-Europe Education

Workshop - Knowledge Societies: Universities and their Social Responsibilities, 2011)

Documentation and Coordination of Community and Industry Engaged Initiatives

One of the important aspects of institutionalisation is being able to capture past and existing work

that has been carried out at the university. This mechanism is required so that all these initiatives

can be recorded in a centralized system and the results can be monitored through the clear criteria

and indicators to enhance impact and sustainability of the industry and community involvement in

the University. This would also enable us to provide the necessary capacity development and

interventions that can further enrich engagement across research, education and service.

This led us to develop a computer resource management (CRM) system called Industry Community

Engagement System (ICEsystem).

This system is valuable in that it enables us:

• To measure the level and quality of industry and community engagement in Faculties and

Institutes as well as the whole university.

• If needed, to allow us to provide necessary intervention (capacity building , resources,) to

enhance the quality of ICE.

• To generate information for the reward and recognition system for academic/non-academic

staff with regards to the industry and community engagement (Performance Evaluation,

Engagement Awards and promotion criteria).

• To increase the visibility and disseminate information of industry and community

engagement initiatives within the university as well as to internal and external media.

When this system was first implemented, it was a challenge to get the academics to fill in the

relevant data. But now that the system is linked to their annual appraisals and promotional

opportunities, we do not face this problem anymore – there is strong motivation for them to fill in

the system themselves.

To further enhance the functionality of the ICEsys as a central engagement database of projects and

stakeholders, we are now working on adding an e-Application component to the ICEsys – whereby

details of all industry and community engagement projects will be channeled into the system for

feedback by the University-Community Partnerships Office prior to implementation. The feedback

will based on clear criteria and indicators such as projected positive impact on research output,

teaching & learning, student development & community empowerment, and sustainability.

We are also developing a database of all stakeholders that UKM has been involved with (industry,

NGOs, govt agencies) which can be linked with the ICEsys. This is because it is important when we

approach a particular industry, for us to already know the history of engagement with that particular


industry – it wouldn’t do for us to go to them not being aware of who they have worked with and

when.

External stakeholders have also expressed that they would like to see greater coordination and

professionalization of engagement with industry within the University. It will help us project a more

professional image and a coordinated approach in our collective dealings with external stakeholders.

In addition, it would also benefit academics if they wanted to approach an organization and could

know in advance who had already worked with them and with whom specifically.

This “Partners in Engagement Management System” would allow us to coordinate, monitor and

evaluate engagement, and help the university project a more professional image and a coordinated

approach in our collective dealings with external stakeholders.

References

Bawa, C.C. (2007) 'Rethinking the Place of Community-Based Engagement at Universities' in L.

McIlrath. and I.M. Labhrainn. (2007) (eds) Higher Education and Civic Engagement: International

Perspectives, Ashgate: Aldershot, 2007, pp. 55-64.

Botman, H. R. (2010). Hope in Africa: Human Development Through Higher Education Community

Interaction. Talloires Network Bellagio Conference, Italy

Furco, A. (2001), Advancing Service-Learning at Research Universities. New Directions for Higher

Education, 2001: 67–78. doi: 10.1002/he.15

Gill, S.K. (2011). In the Draft Report of 2nd Asia-Europe Education Workshop - Knowledge Societies:

Universities and their Social Responsibilities. Innsbruck, Austria

Goddard, J.B. and J. Puukka (2008): The engagement of higher education institutions in regional development: an overview of the opportunities and challenges. Higher Education Management and Policy 20(2): 3-33. Goddard, J. and Vallance, P. (2010) Universities and regional Development, in Pike, A., Rodríguez-Pose, A. and Tomaney, J. (eds.), Handbook of Local and Regional Development. London: Routledge.

Hum, Hoon Sin (2011). Zheng He's Art of Collaboration: Understanding the Legendary Chinese

Admiral from a Management Perspective. The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. ISBN:

9789814379663


B. ASEAN Perspectives on Engagement: Highlighting Models and Best Practice

Prof. Dato’ Dr. Saran Kaur Gill

The process of sharing best practices is in itself a best practice. It is a process in which we are all

continuously engaged in, as we strive to collaborate together to create goodwill and to promote a

stronger and sustainable culture of knowledge exchange and engagement in higher education across

the region.

The Best Practices and Models that I will present to all of you from the ASEAN region begin with the

model of institutionalization of community engagement at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia

Best Practice of Community Engagement at the Institutional Level

Industry and community engagement is not new in many universities, but what is new are efforts to

coordinate and systematize this area as compared to the traditional mainstays of research and

innovation and academic and student affairs. For any relatively new area to be regarded seriously in

a university, it has to be institutionalized. We have worked through very challenging circumstances

over the last five years in our journey to institutionalize industry and community engagement across

the university.

This has involved working out governance systems for engagement with external partners, at senior

management levels, and across faculties and the various other components essential for

institutionalisation. We will discuss more about this later after you have had your group discussions

and I will share and exchange with you our experiences.

Creating multiplier effect and synergies in USR for Asia through international platforms

After we worked out the various areas that coordinated and systematized the way in which we

approached community engagement in the university, we kept receiving numerous requests to

share our experiences. We then saw the need for replicating our Community Engagement strategic

model and sharing our experiences through creating a multiplier effect across the region. This was

what drove us to develop AsiaEngage.

One opportunity came about when UKM worked at establishing the secretariat of the Asia-Talloires

Network of Industry and Community Engaged Universities (ATNEU). The Talloires Network is a

network of over 200 universities in 59 countries around the globe that has a passion for university

social responsibility and civic engagement. In addition, UKM’s bid and proposal to be secretariat of

the Asean University Network’s thematic network on USR&S was endorsed by the AUN Board of

Trustees at their meeting in Luang Prabang, Laos in July 2011. Subsequently, we worked closely with

the ASEAN Secretariat to develop a proposal to plan for and implement the ASEAN Youth Volunteer

Programme. This was successfully endorsed by all ASEAN Member States in October 2011. These

initiatives are strongly supported by the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Youth and

Sports and have been presented at the Malaysian Ministerial Cabinet for government endorsement.


With two secretariats and a programme, we felt that we needed to create an identity – therefore we

created the regional alliance of “AsiaEngage”. All these networks/programme under AsiaEngage aim

to maximize strengths and create mutually beneficial partnerships between the Research, Education

and Volunteerism missions of higher education with industry and community stakeholders across

ASEAN and Asia.

AsiaEngage’s Call for Evidence Survey of Community Engagement to Member Universities

On 28th November 2012, the AsiaEngage Secretariat sent out a “Call for Best Practices Survey” to 22

member universities.

It was clear from the data that we received that there are varying levels of development with

regards community engagement across ASEAN. Some of our member universities have just realized

the importance and value of this area and are keen to start with developments but need guidance as

to how this can be done; there are others, like our member universities in Indonesia where the

government has long supported this, and they have institutionalized community engagement within

the higher education eco-system across the nation; and yet others, who work at institutional levels,

and through their mission statements reach out to communities to forge meaningful partnerships.

Select Best Practices of Community Engagement Projects across ASEAN

What I am going to be able to do is to provide you with Select Best Practices of Community

Engagement across ASEAN – these would be from Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Malaysia.

These would be practices in which the methodology and approach has been based on the following

principles:

i. Research is an integral part of engagement with communities – research-driven

community engagement

ii. Cascading Model -

iii. Academics apply their expertise but are cognizant of the fact that they are not the sole

custodians of knowledge and work closely with communities to share and gain

knowledge - principles of respect and Knowledge-Exchange

iv. Multi-sector partnerships which address and jointly solve problems faced by

communities

v. Need to develop community champions and build up confidence in the community for

them to proceed and progress with the solutions jointly developed

Thailand:

We begin by highlighting the Viharn Pra Chao Pun Ong Conservation Project by Chiang Mai

University, Thailand, which won the 2008 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage

Conservation. Viharn Phra Chao Pun Ong (viharn of the one thousand Buddhas) at Pongsanuk


Temple in Lampang Province, Thailand, is a sacred and highly revered building for the Pongsanuk

community that was seriously damaged during World War II.

In November 2004, a sustainable conservation plan was developed by experts from Chiang Mai

University, with local community participation. This innovative project uses a “Participatory and

Interdisciplinary Practice through Experience and Knowledge” approach which was developed by

academics in the university to help the local community understand the significance and value of

their cultural heritage which then leads them to supportively participate in sustainable conservation.

Collaboration between the various stakeholders - government agencies, NGOs, academic, students

as well as the local community – is a critical factor which has contributed to the success of this

project. Students involved in the project learn conservation technics and methodology, participate

in conservation training courses and then teach the local community how to conserve their heritage.

The project has also inspired some university students to conduct their own research on heritage

conservation.

The next project that I would like to share is a good practice in Engaging Communities through

Research. This project was presented by Dr. Silaporn Buasai, Deputy Director of Thailand Research

Fund, at the 1st AUN-USRS Steering Committee Meeting in October 2012. Dr Silaporn shared 2

innovative modalities practiced in Thailand. The first modality, initiated in 1997, is called CBR or

Community-Based Research, which works primarily at the “village” level and aims to enhance the

learning process of the community through a solution-oriented approach to solve the community’s

problems. The key characteristics of this best practice is that the research problems are initiaited by

the community, the community members act as active researchers, and the university works with

the community through participatory action research in search of solutions. Thus the role of the

university is in its capacity as a reseach node and an advisor, to provide academic service and

produce knowledge from “ground” experiences of the community.

A CBR example is a project on a water pump in Ubon, a northeastern province bordering Mae Khong

River. The villagers had difficulty pumping water up from Mae Khong River every dry season as the

water level was usually 30 meters lower from the bank. The villagers posed this question and

worked with engineers. Academic engineers, however, failed to invent a pump that could pump

water so high without causing power breakdown. The villagers finally searched among their local

wise men, developed a prototype, consulted the engineer, tested and improved the model which

they called "Air Wear". The model worked well. But what is more important is that the villagers felt

confident about their ability to do research and find appropriate solution to their problem. Although

this example is about technology, CBR in fact does not emphasize the discovery of technology.

Rather, it focuses on helping local people discover their potentials.

The second modality is known as ABC or Area-Based Collaborative Research, which promotes the

role of universities in local development. Initiated in 2007, ABC is a strategic research design that

aims to bring multiple stakeholders to collaborate through research to solve problems at the

provinicial level in Thaland. One example is the ABC project for poverty alleviation, which is the

nation’s largest action research project involving over 40,000 people from GOs, NGOs, academics

and community, and spanning 17 of Thailand’s 77 provinces. This project successfully applied


strategic research design to promote collaboration among diverse provincial partners in

development towards community empowerment and poverty alleviation through a bottom-up

planning model, budgetary integration and change in knowledge culture.

The following explanation was provided by Dr. Silaporn Buasai: As for ABC, the case of Pitsanulok, a

northern province some 400 km. north of BKK, could be an example. We introduced a "household

account" as a tool to help villagers realize about their debt situation and its cause. At first they

resisted, arguing that many agencies had come before us and had told them to record their income

and expenditure, but nothing had changed. However, through the strategic research design, we

incorporated multiple stakeholders in the village fora where data from household accounts could be

compiled and hence brought certain type of expenditure to local attention. Villagers became aware

of common problems and through the fora which served as their learning classroom, they gradually

came to see the root cause of their debt, i.e., the lack of good farm planning and management. The

inability to control cost for their farm production was very typical. Some farmers confessed after

seeing their maize production cost that they could see that if they went on growing maize, their debt

would pile up even before they started planting. So they changed. They started looking for

alternative crops, some changed to growing passion fruits, while some to flowers. Some find ways to

reduce the cost of fertilizers. Here, more academic research could come in to help find alternatives.

Overall, most of the farmers joining in this project could relieve their debt burden within 3 years.

Indonesia:

A good example of a community engagement project which is integrated into the curriculum is the

Kuliah Kerja Nyata (K2N) Project at Universitas Indonesia (UI). K2N is a student community service

course with 3 credits offered at UI, with the objective of developing students’ soft skills, fostering a

sense of belonging to the Indonesian archipelago, promoting sensitivity, awareness, independence,

and volunteerism, whilst empowering communities in the remote and border islands of the nation.

Under this program, students are divided into groups with a maximum of 30 students per group and

sent for one month to remote areas in Indonesia, such as to Kalimantan, Papua or remote islands in

the Pacific, to help local communities. Students need to meet the selection criteria such as essay

writing skills, interviews, assessment of health and physical condition, and subsequently undergo

survival training before they head to the remote islands. For the K2N program, UI established

cooperation with Indonesia’s Navy Forces and a private university in the area closest to the K2N

initiative, to facilitate student supervision. The students are transported to locations at outer and

remote islands by Navy Ships, and stay in a village in the remote island under the supervision of UI’s

lecturers as well as lecturers from the closest private university. There, the each student group

carries out specific community empowerment projects based on the assessment of the area and

village resources, such as providing special education which was not offered in formal education;

developing economic productive activity based on local resources; developing eco and culinary

tourism and enhancing quality of life by implementing village sanitation and safe drinking water.

Singapore:

Next is the Gourmet Guru project by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The main

objective of this project was to help low-income homemakers earn a living by imparting their family

recipes of traditional dishes to keen students. It aimed to turn homemakers into culinary teachers by

creating opportunities for low-income women to become gainfully employed. Gourmet Guru


collaborates with a Family Service Centre in West Singapore by employing chef graduates from the

Centre to become cooking instructors at the Academy. It even works with a distinguished publisher,

Marshall Cavendish, to publish a set of cookbooks from the cooking lessons, with part of the sales

revenue paid to the homemaker-cooking instructors. There is no state funding; all monies come

from the university’s operating budget and external resources. Gourmet Guru was both an internal

as well as external success. Internally, NTU SIFE developed a signature program that not only helped

students who were involved gain multi-level exposure with the various partners they had to work

with, but also inspired others. In 2011, ‘Gourmet Guru’ won the Mayor’s Imagine Fund Ignite Award

for the most inspiring youth project and the SIFE Spirit Award. In 2012, Gourmet Guru garnered NTU

SIFE the Nanyang Award for Teamwork. To date, Gourmet Guru has helped supplement the

participating homemakers’ household income by an average of 12%, with the highest earner

bringing in $3100. A total of 31 homemakers benefited from the project and earned a sum of

$13,800 by June 2012.

Philippines: ‘Blueplate’ for Better Learning”, initiated by Ateneo De Manila University, in the Philippines is a

daily in-school feeding program that targets 4000 of the most undernourished elementary school

children in four Quezon City public schools. This good practice in engagement began as part of the

university’s efforts to facilitate intervention in response to the challenge of malnutrition and hunger

affecting a significant number of public school students in the Philippines. One of the remarkable

achievements of this program is the formulation of low-cost nutritious meals for the school children.

These meals are cooked by parent volunteers in a central kitchen located in one of the four public

elementary schools, and are then distributed to the needy students. The role of the University has

been critical in knowledge-generation, through the creation of a template and structured system for

a large-scale feeding program that can be replicated in other places, as well as through oversight and

overall management of this program. The Blueplate programme provides opportunities for

University students to get to know the realities and challenges of Philippine public schools

communities. Multi-disciplinary students from the University are involved in this programme. For

example, students from the Ateneo Graduate School of Business study the operational aspects of

the project, leading to its operational refinement, whilst students of the Law School help to push for

the approval of an ordinance in Quezon City that can help financially sustain the project and its

replications through the commitment of local government funds to such projects. The students of

the School of Medicine and Public Health help by taking the anthropometric measurements of the

beneficiaries, and data shows that after six to eight weeks of the program, 50% of the participating

school children already reach normal Body Mass Index (BMI) levels.

I will now introduce to you some of the initiatives that have been carried out at UKM. There are

many and we have published them in a book “The Power of Engagement.”

UKM’s Environmental Track for Knowledge-Driven Volunteerism One of the eight niche research areas in UKM is that of the environment and sustainable

development. We have over time developed a number of exciting programmes that deal with the

environment and climate change across various faculties at the university, and have now

coordinated these programmes into UKM’s Environmental Track for knowledge-driven volunteerism


and community engagement. The Environmental Track at UKM comprises 3 exciting programmes,

namely the Green ROSE Programme, Eco-system Discovery Journey (EDJ) Programme and the S.E.E.

Nature Programme.

The start was when we worked with industry to set up an endowment for the UKM-YSD Chair for

Climate Change. The aim of this Chair is to develop the local scientific knowledge of tropical climate

change systems which are essential for ascertaining how nations and communities in the region

would be able to address and mitigate their future problems.

Through a cascading model, the Chair also facilitates the creation of a corps of Climate Change

Ambassadors amongst the university students who then work with primary school children.

Researchers will educate university students to become change agents who can raise awareness,

develop knowledge and direct behavioural changes to manage climate change in this young

community as they believe that it is these children who can be change agents in school, influencing

their friends and at home, influencing their parents and siblings. This has been named the Green

ROSE Programme which is developed under the university’s Climate Change research niche headed

by Professor Dr. Sharifah Mastura, and has to date been conducted in 14 primary schools

nationwide, impacting almost 800 school children and involving about 80 UKM student volunteers.

The Green ROSE Programme is championed by UKM’s Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities and

driven by its Dean, Professor Dr. Hazita Azman.

The programme begins with a 3 day Training of volunteers on the Green ROSE modules and a 3 day

Induction session at the selected school. This is then followed by a series of up to 16 school

intervention visits (1 day each), spread over a period of 3 months, where the volunteers work with

the school children for 2 -3 hours per week to inculcate climate change awareness through

innovative and creative hands-on activities. This aims to raise awareness of young children on

climate change issues and adaptation. Student volunteers are trained by academics to mentor

school children through a cascading model, to become change agents who can raise awareness,

develop knowledge and direct behavioural changes to manage climate change within their

community.

Next on the Environmental Track is the Eco-system Discovery Journey (EDJ) Programme. The land

on which the University’s Bangi campus is currently built upon was once gazetted as a forest reserve,

making it one of the oldest rainforests in Malaysia at more than a hundred years old. A total area of

350 hectares of the remaining forest reserve is still forested, comprising a lowland dipterocarp forest

that is rich in biodiversity. Appreciating this, Dato’ Shararuddin Mohd. Ismail, Fellow at UKM’s

Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), developed a bespoke eco-volunteer

programme to help UKM students as well as members of the public understand the role of the

forest within the overall setting of the university. The main objective of the programme was to

introduce the unique forest setting including its rich flora and fauna to the campus community

particularly to the undergraduates and graduate students. The programme also illustrates the

ecology and the role of forest in the overall eco system management of the campus.

Student volunteers form a core group that aims to spread the spirit of environmental volunteerism

among the UKM community and act as facilitators to school children and members of the public who


want to take a tour of UKM’s rainforest. With the opportunity for hands-on field experience, the

programme is a novel way for school children and the local community to experience the forest up

close. This is done through the development of learning modules that visitors to the forest are able

to use to learn more about role of the forest as a carbon sink area.

The programme follows a structured methodology where volunteers take a 3-day preliminary course

conducted by academics as a basic introduction to nature. This is followed by a series of 3-day “train

the trainers” workshops that cover integrated Environment modules (Forest, Water, Waste

Management, Air, Soil, Beach cleaning/activities, Energy) and a Leadership programme to motivate

and train volunteers on how to survive in a jungle, all conducted at various forest reserve sites

located close the university. Then comes the community outreach component, where the

volunteers work over several weekends with school children and the public at the selected sites to

develop an awareness of rainforest biodiversity and spark an interest in conservation.

Led by UKM’s Faculty of Science and Technology under the supervision of its Forest Reserve

Coordinator, Dr. Wan Juliana Wan Ahmad, and with the support of the Malaysian Nature Society

(MNS), the UKM-MNS S.E.E. Nature Programme focuses on environmental education of the younger

generation, one of the important first steps towards preservation of our environment.

The inaugural 18-day programme took place at the Kuala Selangor Nature Park and the pilot

initiative involved 24 multi-disciplinary student volunteers from UKM’s Friends of the Garden Club in

2012. With the input of MNS, an NGO that is directly involved in conservation and awareness, two

modules-biodiversity assessment and environmental education outreach-were prepared. The aim of

the programme was to expose the participants to observatory skills and field work techniques of

identifying selected species in their natural habitat, and the concept of environmental education and

nature interpretation. Through this programme, a successful educational module was developed to

enable the students to become effective facilitators who would then educate young school-going

children and members of the public on the natural environment in the next phase of the project.

For the Environmental Track, the programme involves an intensive 20 day session at the Malaysian

Nature Society’s nature conservation site. The abbreviation “S E E” refers to Seek, Educate and

Embrace Nature, and the overarching aim is to inculcate awareness of nature, provide outreach to

the community as well as develop a love for the environment among youth volunteers. Volunteers

undergo a 2-3 day nature volunteerism training and induction programme on campus before being

stationed at an MNS nature site for a period of 15-18 days. Here, the volunteers learn to collect data

on various aspects of biodiversity unique to that site and develop educational modules based on this

data, all jointly facilitated by UKM academics and MNS practitioners. Through this cascading model,

these volunteers are now to ready to facilitate school children, community members and public in

educating them about conservation and preservation.

ASEAN Youth Volunteer Programme: The volunteer who is passionate about the environment may

complete the Environmental Track, and then for those who are good and have potential to develop

strong leadership qualities, we can select them for participation in the ASEAN Youth Volunteer

Programme hosted at UKM. We are developing the inaugural programme called “The Development


of ASEAN Eco-Leaders through Volunteerism and Community Engagement” which will be in August

2013.

Through all of these initiatives, we aim to inculcate a love for nature conservation, raise awareness

on concerns related to climate change, and provide environmental knowledge that can empower

youth volunteers to make a difference to the surrounding communities in the nation and region.

Conclusion

The innovative and diverse best practices presented in this paper reflect the dynamics of the

relationship between ASEAN universities and their surrounding environment, and break down the

barriers between academia and community to build partnerships based on mutually valued

university and community competencies. This exemplifies the strength of community engagement in

uniting diverse stakeholders towards the common mission of contributing to community

development. At UKM, all those who champion and participate in such initiatives stand testimony to

the university’s commitment as a community-engaged research university. As the first Asian Scholar

invited by Engagement Australia to participate in the Visiting Scholar and Experts Program, I also

look forward learning from all of you, to exchange knowledge and experiences, and to generate

goodwill amongst ourselves and help us develop and strengthen this collaborative relationship

between Engagement Australia and AsiaEngage.


4. MOVING FORWARD: AUN USR&S@ASIAENGAGE AND ENGAGEMENT AUSTRALIA

SYNERGIES AND POTENTIAL COLLABORATION

This next section raises key messages elicited from the group discussions that provided

voice to the participants involved in community and industry engagement at the various

meetings organized by both Engagement Australia and AUN USR&S@AsiaEngage. These key

messages provide direction for establishing synergies and potential collaboration between

both Engagement Australia and AUN USR&S@AsiaEngage.

4.1 Key messages from Group Discussions during the Australian Visiting Scholar Tour

(11-20 March 2013):

There is a need for a clear Governance systems and management structure for integrating

university and community engagement across research, education and service, both at

institution (internal as well as external) and ministry levels.

There is a need to clearly define ‘engagement” so that the area of industry and community

engagement is not regarded as merely the third mission but instead has to be integrated

across research, education and service to maximise its potential and enrich the core

missions of the university.

There is a need for a national policy on engagement so as to provide sustainable funding

support for University& Community Engagement

There is a need for appropriate motivation and recognition in the form of schemes,

modalities and criteria for promotion systems for academics, as well as recognition and

rewards for University& Community Engagement

There is a need for sharing of skills, knowledge and good practices for capacity building to

develop industry & community engagement champions amongst staff and students, and to

develop the Scholarship of Engagement.

There is a need to upscale and embed industry and community engagement across

faculties in research institutes in universities, and across the region.

4.2 Key outcomes from the 1st AUN USR&S Steering Committee Meeting (15-16 Oct 2012):

There is a need to develop systems and processes for quality engagement within the

university and with external stakeholders. Universities have to define it in connection with

the university’s mission. The challenge is to develop and institute appropriate mechanisms

for community engagement at an institutional level.

There needs to be clarity of conceptualisation of the various terms used in this field: the

difference between community engagement, civic engagement and service with regards to

the definition of community engagement in the ASEAN context.

There is a need to include community and industry engagement in promotional systems

for academic staff and credits worked out for students involved in community and industry

engagement initiatives. This will require recognition and support from the top management


of the universities. In addition, it is very important for a study to be carried out on the status

quo of the promotional criteria to see how many universities across ASEAN have included

industry and community engagement in their promotional systems and also the manner in

which it has been included.

There is a need to identify and promote good practices and community engaged research

as well as to show the impact on the community and what needs to be done after research

is conducted. This evidence based data helps convince future donors of the value of the

work and also contributes to the development of the scholarship of community

engagement. There is a need for capacity building to develop the scholarly writing

required to develop the scholarship of engagement.

There is a need to work out criteria and indicators to identify experts and once identified,

create a database of current experts in the field of community engagement. There is also a

need to develop a scheme for attracting experts in the areas of community and industry

engagement from across the globe to provide for capacity building in the various areas

essential to drive forward productive and sustainable community and industry engagement,

supporting research, education and service.

There is a need for collaboration with strategic partners nationally and regionally to

develop knowledge exchange partnerships which are mutually beneficial. This is through

the sharing of experiences, resources and ideas with diverse stakeholders to combine

resources for the benefit of national and regional communities. These collaborations should

be formalised with the scope and mode of cooperation identified, delineated and clear roles

and responsibilities worked out for meaningful, productive and sustainable collaboration

between the relevant strategic partners.

It can be seen that the challenges faced and the development work that needs to be carried out

resonate strongly across both the regions. Given our proximity and close educational, economic

and trade ties, it will be necessary to collaborate with honesty and sincerity to establish mutually

beneficial partnerships that will benefit communities through multi-stakeholder engagement

across both ASEAN and Australia.

5. CONCLUSION:

Therefore in conclusion, it is strongly recommended that AsiaEngage through AUN USR&S

collaborates strategically with Engagement Australia to share expertise, resources and ideas,

develop capacity and replicate good practices in the above key areas to drive forward regional

and international university-industry-community engagement across research, education and

service.

*********


Appendix: Applause for Visiting Scholars and Experts Program from Flinders University

April 16, 2013 Furthering the engagement agenda Flinders University’s key strategic priority of ‘building supportive communities’ has been

underscored with the University’s hosting of its fourth visiting scholar, Professor Saran Kaur Gill,

under Engagement Australia’s (EA) 2013 Visiting Scholars and Experts program.

The EA program builds engagement depth, skills and capacity while increasing knowledge and

understanding around specific and diverse areas of scholarship and practice. The program helps staff

learn from engagement experiences, theories, practices from other parts of the world as well as

providing a forum for exchanging good practises within Australia.

Professor Gill is advancing engagement in Asian higher education in two senior positions; the Deputy

Vice-Chancellor (Industry & Community Partnerships) at University Kebangsaan Malaysia (The

National University of Malaysia – UKM),Executive Director of AsiaEngage where she leads a dynamic

and rapidly growing engagement network of universities. AsiaEngage is committed to regional

community-industry engagement and its ultimate power in transforming not only higher education,

but communities as well.

Ms Penny Crocker, Head of Flinders Southern Knowledge Transfer Partnerships said her office was

delighted to facilitate Flinders academics and professional staff with opportunities to hear from, and

share experiences with Prof Gill in a series of workshops and one-to-one meetings. ‘This type of

professional learning opportunity for staff particularly those involved in community engagement

(outreach) and in international roles provides opportunities to learn via exemplar case studies and to

have one –to- one conversation about the latest developments in community engagement both in

Australia and internationally ”, she said. The workshops and meetings created space and time to

learn and share ideas on ‘leading community engagement at an institutional level’ and ‘ASEAN

Perspectives on Engagement, highlighting models and best-practices.

Professor Janice Orrell, Adjunct Professor with the School of Education, said Professor Gill’s session

and meeting her in person was “an academic highlight moment for me making the time in the

workshop well worth spending. This workshop was an interval in my academic life where I had time

to profitably reflect on the place of universities in society and on the ethical, moral and practical

stance they need to adopt in working and relating with industries and communities. While this was

not a new topic for me, I found that Professor Gill’s presentation asked and answered critical and

practical questions about the implementation and impact of taking a systematic institutional

approach to Universities partnerships that helped me to move forward in my own thinking.

Professor Gill’s capacity to move easily from ideology to policy to practice, by illustrating points of

integration and alignment is inspiring. Her framework for knowledge driven and outcomes based

engagement that is integrated in both the education and research missions of the university is

profoundly useful for Flinders”.

report of the first asian visiting scholar & expert's knowledge sharing visit to australian...

Documents

engagement depth

leading community engagement

australian visit

visiting scholars

experts programme

australian higher education

saran toured australia

curtin universities