About this section
In this section, you will find resources about setting appropriate targets and goals; putting in place evaluation and monitoring; implementing effective governance; and securing resources and building a team to deliver the work.
Key challenges when delivering your agreement include:
- How will the CUA translate into practical activity that realises public benefit?
- How can the impact of your CUA be tracked and evaluated?
- What resources and capacity do you need to deliver the process effectively?
Top tips
- A focus on delivery, and evaluation of results, should be considered at the start of the process – an agreement should be outcome focused or risks being ’hot air’.
- Ensure learning and reflection are designed into the process.
- Build robust governance arrangements which dovetail with and don’t duplicate existing arrangements.
- The steps outlined above demonstrate that the process of creating CUAs will require significant resource and capability – do not underestimate this or over commit, or you risk significant reputational damage.
- The expertise to manage each of these steps is not always on tap – consider carefully who you need in your team to ensure you deliver on your ambition.
Video Case Studies
These case studies reveal how different HEI partnerships have organised the delivery of their civic university agreements, built robust governance models and built delivery teams.
Organising to deliver: the Newcastle story
In this interview, Jane Robinson, PVC for Engagement and Place at Newcastle University, describes how they are staffing, resourcing and building a delivery infrastructure for their civic work.
This resource pack provides links to a host of useful resources. Newcastle have shared the terms of reference for key committees; the job descriptions of the core Engagement delivery team; and briefing notes about some of the key developments that are in train, including the scope of a new Policy and Evidence Hub.
Universities for Nottingham: 18 months of our Civic Agreement
Fiona Anderson (NTU) and Leonie Mathers (University of Nottingham) share the lessons they’ve learned about delivering their Civic Agreement, during a Civic University Network Showcase event in November 2021.
Evaluating Civic Activities
These case studies focus specifically on how universities and their partners have developed evaluation and monitoring approaches.
The University of Winchester’s Story
Sarah-Louise Collins explains Winchester’s approach to evaluation and shares their draft evaluation framework.
The University of Warwick and Coventry City of Culture
Jonothan Neelands and Mark Hinton explain how the universities in Coventry have worked with city partners to develop a ‘theory of change’ and an evaluation and monitoring strategy to underpin the City of Culture programme.
Evaluating Civic Activity
Some helpful tips from Emily Morrison, Director of the Institute for Community Studies. You can download Emily’s slides here.
Other Relevant Case Studies
London Met Lab
London Met are using their London Met Lab as the delivery vehicle for their Civic strategy.
Find out more about this innovative approach to co-producing action and change, and read this case study about their approach, with links to key resources.
University of Bristol Barton Hill Micro-Campus
A presentation about the University’s involvement in a new micro-campus, working collaboratively with a range of partners and communities in East Bristol. You can access the slides here.
This presentation was part of a workshop including other civic case studies. You can also access the University of Bath case study and a case study about Community Chesterfield (below), based at the University of Derby.
Community Chesterfield
A presentation about an innovative, collaborative partnership between Derbyshire Voluntary Action and the University of Derby, bringing together Chesterfield’s community organisations and the University together to strengthen the local health and social care sector. The project is community-led and is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund.
The Civic Impact Framework
Introducing the Framework
This webinar, held on 24 March 2021, shared the emerging work from the Civic University Network on creating a framework for civic activity. We discussed why the framework isn’t yet another league table; what it aims to achieve; and introduce the seven domains of activity we think should be at the heart of Civic University Agreements and place-based partnerships and strategies.
The webinar was chaired by the NCCPE Director of Policy, Paul Manners, and the civic activity framework was introduced by Ed Ferrari (Director) and Julian Dobson (Senior Research fellow) at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University, which has been leading this work. There were also insights from institutions that have already taken initiatives to assess and improve their civic activities.
Click here to download the webinar slides, or read more about the framework here: