The Civic University Network
The Civic University Network builds on the 2018 UPP Foundation Civic University Commission which challenged universities to re-shape their role and responsibility to their communities to realise their potential as drivers of a new civic agenda. Our vision for the Civic University Network is to help make this ambition a reality – supporting universities to develop and embed civic aspirations at an institutional level, as well as working with government and strategic partners to ensure that a university’s geographic role and responsibility is used more effectively as an agent to drive positive societal change.
Our Focus
The Network will work to support the growing Civic University movement by sharing best practice between participating universities, support those HEIs who are developing Civic University Agreements (a key recommendation of the UPP Commission), develop a peer review scheme so that universities increase their civic impact, and connect universities with other sectors which are prioritising issues around ‘place’ to level up the economy and society. The civic university network is funded by the UPP foundation, Department for Education, Carnegie UK Trust and Arts Council England.
Our Ambition
The Civic University Commission challenged universities to re-shape their roles and responsibility’s to their communities to realise their potential as drivers of a new civic agenda. Our vision for the Civic University Network is to help make this ambition a reality – supporting universities to develop and embed civic aspirations at an institutional level, as well as working with government and strategic partners to ensure that a university’s geographic role and responsibility is used more effectively as an agent to drive positive societal change.
Current Context
The establishment of the network comes as we all grapple with the challenges of Covid-19, not only for our institutions, but also for our wider communities and localities. The unprecedented nature and scale of this will shape the civic agenda for the foreseeable future. The Network will be working with Universities UK, the NHS Confederation and other key sector bodies to develop a coordinated response to the challenges ahead and to support universities’ contribution to longer-term recovery from the impact of Covid-19. The thought piece prepared by Des McNulty and John Goddard is well worth a read. One of the activities of the network will be to facilitate discussions across universities on the issues raised in the paper
Follow us
A fantastic range of sessions linking to the Civic University agenda taking place at this year's @ESRC Festival of Social Science. See the full line up here: https://festivalofsocialscience.com/events/ #trulycivic
Amazing set of 2020 @esrc Festival of Social Science events based on findings from @CRESR_SHU and other @seri_shu and @SIPS_SHU research teams - social science from the comfort of your sofa! https://festivalofsocialscience.com/events/partner/sheffield-hallam-university/ @sheffhallamuni
Yesterday we sent out our latest newsletter including some upcoming key event information - did you see it? If not don't worry you can sign up for our newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/hflOsb #trulycivic
Come and join us on 2 November for the launch of two new @UPP_Foundation reports #trulycivic
Along with out friends @civicuniversity, on 2 November we are hosting a webinar on "Universities' role in 'levelling up' and building back better."
The webinar is a post-launch event for two new @UPP_Foundation reports #comingsoon
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/universities-role-in-levelling-up-and-building-back-better-tickets-124661117759?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&aff=estw&utm-source=tw&utm-term=listing @EventbriteUK
A fantastic follow up piece produced by our recent co-hosts @CityREDI at the 30/09 CUN webinar event. Read the blog piece via the link below ⬇️ #trulycivic
In this blog @profsicollinson and @taylor_abigail1 reports on a Webinar held on the 30th September, co-hosted by City-REDI and The Civic University Network (CUN). Our lead speakers were: Lord Robert Kerslake, Lord David Willetts, and Sarah Davidson.
📣 https://blog.bham.ac.uk/cityredi/civic-universities-and-inclusive-local-economic-recovery-how-can-universities-do-even-more-to-support-regions-in-crisis/
Exciting things in the pipeline over the coming months... Don't miss out on the latest Civic University Network news, updates and event information by signing up for our newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/hflOsb
Civic University: A snapshot
This infographic has been created as a handy one page document summarising the network, those involved and the aims and objectives.
Design by Nifty Fox Creative, 2020
Upcoming Events
02 November 2020: Universities’ role in ‘Levelling Up’ and preventing a post Covid job crisis
For more information and to book a place click here
COMING SOON: Civic University Network Webinar 4. Re-imagining the relationship between Universities and the NHS
Latest Events
Civic Universities and Inclusive Local Economic Recovery Webinar
We were delighted to welcome almost 200 representatives from organisations across the UK to the webinar hosted by City-REDI, University of Birmingham. The focus of the webinar was on how civic universities can play
The impact of Covid-19 on Civic Engagement
Our second Civic Network took place on 17 July with a focus on the impact of Covid-19 on Civic Engagement from the perspective of three sectors, each represented by our fantastic guest speakers: Arts
New Research Agenda launched
The Institute for Community Studies has launched 'Safety in Numbers', a research agenda with communities for communities, which asked over 3,000 people across the UK about what matters to their communities through a process