The Civic Role of Universities
Rhonda Wynne (University College Dublin)
Abstract
The civic role of universities is to the fore for two reasons. Firstly, matters of democracy, governance and citizenship are on the agenda nationally, in Europe and globally, with education for active citizenship at all levels a key consideration. Much deliberation is given to the role universities play in educating for citizenship and to the social role the graduate-citizen plays in society. Secondly, in addressing the many challenges, both local and global, faced by contemporary higher education institutions and systems, the emerging trends of commercialisation, vocationalism and modernisation all impact directly and indirectly on our understandings of a university education and on the role of higher education in society.
A significant number of scholars, concerned that there is a mission shift from a public-social model to a private-economic model underway in higher education, call for a greater emphasis on the civic and social role of universities, and for greater levels of university community engagement. Drawing on this literature, this paper will commence with an overview of how the civic role of universities is conceptualised. Three broad categories of university engagement are suggested:
The Engaged Institution/ The University as Citizen
The Engaged Campus/ Universities as Sites of Citizenship
The Engaged Student
Each of these classifications has a civic capacity and contains sub-categories around which further discussion and analysis can be conducted. The paper considers initiatives and institutional responses at each of these three levels, macro, meso and micro, with a view to emphasising the public good role of higher education.
