Abstract
The chapter considers what a civic agenda might look like from the perspective of the communities universities serve and shows how institutions can become more responsive to the resources, aspirations, needs and inequalities within their localities. It examines how community-university partnerships can begin to address complex issues of place by adopting asset-based approaches involving co-produced research and knowledge exchange of mutual benefit to the partners involved. One challenge is navigating the relationship between researchers and the researched to enable equal participation, which community-based participatory research methods seek to address. Another is the Research Excellence Framework’s focus on world leading research over other forms of outputs, which can limit academic participation within institutions’ localities. Drawing on three case studies, the chapter describes how the University of Liverpool collaborates with civic partners to leverage academic research for public benefit. It offers a reflection of how universities can position social impact within their strategic architecture and ensure community engagement practice and co-production methods become mutually reinforcing throughout the institution. It also reflects on practice from local government to assess how universities can go further in understanding their social impact.
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Jarvis, S. (2023). How Should Universities Understand Their Social Impact?. In: Dobson, J., Ferrari, E. (eds) Reframing the Civic University. Rethinking University-Community Policy Connections. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17686-9_3
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