Higher Education to 2030

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The higher education sector and the Irish government have recognised that the evolution of higher education within a rapidly changing global environment demands a strong and dynamic policy formulation process that will allow the system to meet new challenges. (Visit the HEA website to access for a copy of the report and additional information access)

In January 2011, the National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 crucially endorses the renewal of the civic mission of higher education and clearly states that ‘engaging with the wider society' is ‘one of the three interconnected core roles of higher education.' It references Ernest Boyer's ‘Scholarship Re-considered: Priorities of the Professoriate' (1990), citing Boyer's ‘interactive scholarships of discovery, teaching, engagement and integration.'

The report defines engagement as including ‘engagement with business and industry, with the civic life of the community, with public policy and practice, with artistic, cultural and sporting life and with other educational providers in the community and regions and it includes an increasing emphasis on international engagement.' Arguing that engagement should be regarded as a core element of the mission of Irish higher education it states that HEIs ‘should deepen the quality and intensity of their relationships with the communities and regions they serve, and ensure that the emergence of new ideas can better inform community and regional development.'

Crucially the report identifies that the supports required for the implementation of engagement with the wider society include strong leadership at institutional level, resource allocation, inclusion in promotion criteria and inclusion in the metrics evaluating impact at the institutional, regional and national levels.

It is very promising and timely that the Hunt report has positioned community engagement as a core element of higher education, alongside the ‘traditional' teaching/learning and research functions. Now that community engagement has been formally recognised as core to the mission of higher education it is necessary to develop strategies to grow, consolidate and embed civic engagement in higher education in Ireland.