Regional Engagement and Knowledge Transfer

1. What is meant by the term ‘engagement’? • What does an engaged higher education institution look like?...from the outside? • Can we… should we… move engagement from the periphery to the core? • How can we structure our institutions… collect and use business intelligence? Regional Engagement and Knowledge Transfer

2. HEI – Enterprise Engagement • Universities as ‘engines of the knowledge economy’ (Vorley and Nelles 2008) • OECD ..’regional engagement …create the conditions in which innovation thrives’ • European Commission… • R&D collaboration and commercialisation • Mobility of academics and students • Curriculum development and delivery • Lifelong learning • Entrepreneurship • Governance • Knowledge transfer – exchange – co-creation

3. National Context • National • Economic and social value – employment, skills needs, enterprise development, cultural interactions • Institutional • Academic – relevancy and currency of learning • Knowledge creation and application • Diversity of missions • National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 calls for: ..higher education institutions to ‘engage with the communities they serve in a more connected manner—identifying community, regional and enterprise needs and proactively responding to them’

4. What does an engaged HEI look like? Supporting Entrepreneurship Enhancement of employability skills Guest lectureships Career fairs and company visits Spin-outs and spin-ins Course design and delivery Professional Bodies External examiners Patents and licences Work-placement CPD Commercialisation Work-based learning Applied research Volunteering Long-term relationship planning RPL Alumni Relations Service Learning

5. Collaborative projects - SIF • Education in Employment project – workplace as a valuable learning location and the employer as a partner • REAP – development of partnership continuum and exploration of good practice models for engagement interactions Relationships, resources and realistic expectations

6. Institution-wide Engagement Engagement has to be an institution wide commitment, not confined to individual academics or projects. It has to embrace teaching as well as research, students as well as academics, and the full range of support services. All universities need to develop strategies to guide their engagement with wider society, to manage themselves accordingly and to work with external partners to gauge their success. • Goddard, J. (2009) Reinventing the Civic University, 8

7. Stimulating and supporting engagement Outward Facing • Key elements • Stimulus to generate the ‘pull’ • Exemplars of activity • Point of contact • Informed view of capabilities, experience and expertise • Guidelines for good practice • Professional approach to case management Inward Facing

8. Within the HEI – Can we: • Collate expertise and experience from our separate (competing?) units • Develop an informed, strategic view of past, present and future engagement interactions • Articulate clearly what makes engagement work (for both partners) • Structures • Expectations, • Timeframes • Cultures • Climate… …and then share our learning with other HEIs

9. Evidencing and Valuing Engagement • Quantify: Connections made – leads generated – interactions progressed • Strategy: location, sector, engagement type • Process: timelines, workflows, critical gates • Relationship mapping and progression: Social and economic value generation? Culture Attitude Measurable? Expectations Values

10. Dr Irene Sheridan Thank you www.reap.ie www.cit.ie/extendedcampus