Higher Education and Society

Institutions of education, and also the system of which they‘re a neighborhood, face a number of unprecedented challenges from forces in society that affect and therefore are influenced by these very institutions and the communities of learners and educators. Among these forces are sweeping demographic changes, shrinking provincial budgets, revolutionary advances in information and telecommunication technologies, globalization, competition from new educational providers, market pressures to shape educational and scholarly practices toward profit-driven ends, and increasing demands and pressures for fundamental changes publicly policy and public accountability relative towards the role better education in addressing pressing issues of communities and also the society at large. Anyone of those challenges could be significant by themselves, but collectively they boost the complexity and difficulty for education to sustain or advance the fundamental work of serving the general public good.

Via a forum on education, we will agree to : Strengthening the connection between higher education and society will demand a broad-based effort that encompasses all education, not simply individual institutions, departments and associations.

Piecemeal solutions is allowed to go thus far ; strategies for change should be informed using a shared vision and some common objectives. A movement approach for change holds greater promise for transforming academic culture compared to the prevailing organizational approach.

Mobilizing change would require strategic alliances, networks, and partnerships with a rapid choice of stakeholders within and beyond education.

The Common Agenda is specifically designed to aid a movement approach to alter by encouraging the emergence of strategic alliances among individuals and organizations who care in regards to the role better education in advancing the ideals of the diverse democratic system through education practices, relationships and service to society.

A Common Agenda

The Common Agenda is supposed to become a living document and an open procedure that guides collective action and learning among committed partners within and outside better education. Like a living document, the Common Agenda is really a collection of focused activity aimed at advancing civic, social, and cultural roles in society. This collaboratively created, implemented, and focused Common Agenda respects the diversity of activity and programmatic foci of people, institutions, and networks, along with recognizes the common interests of the entire. Being an open process, the Common Agenda is really a structure for connecting work and relationships around common interests focusing upon the academic role in serving society. Various modes of aliening and amplifying the common work within and beyond education will certainly be provided inside the Common Agenda process.

This approach is understandably ambitious and unique in its purpose and application. Ultimately, the Common Agenda challenges the internal system better education, and people who view education as vital to addressing society's pressing issues, to act deliberately, collectively, and clearly with an evolving and significant group of commitments to society. Currently, four broad issue areas are shaping the focus from the Common Agenda : 1 ) Building public understanding and support for our particular civic mission and actions ; 2 ) Cultivating networks and partnerships ; 3 ) Infusing and reinforcing the worth of civic responsibility straight into the culture better education institutions ; and 4 ) Embedding civic engagement and social responsibility inside the structure from the education system

VISION We possess a vision better education that nurtures individual prosperity, institutional responsiveness and inclusivity, and societal health by promoting and practicing learning, scholarship, and engagement that respects public needs. Our universities are proactive and responsive to pressing social, ethical, and economic problems facing our communities and greater society. Our students are people of integrity who embrace diversity and therefore are socially responsible and civilly engaged throughout their lives.

MISSION The reason for a Common Agenda is to supply a framework for organizing, guiding and communicating the values and practices of education in accordance with its civic, social and economic commitments to some diverse democratic system.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

I think social justice, ethics, educational equity, and societal change for positive effects are fundamental to the hard work better education. We consider the connection between communities and education institutions to become driven by values of equally, respect and reciprocity, and the hard work in education to become interdependent with another institutions and individuals in society.

We‘ll seek and depend on extensive partnerships with kinds of institutions and devoted individuals inside and outside better education.

We understand the interconnection of politics, power and privilege. The Common Agenda Isn‘t for higher education to self-serve, but to walk the talk in accordance with espoused public goals. We understand the Common Agenda like a dynamic living document, and expect the activities it encompasses to alter as time passes.

THE COMMON AGENDA FRAMEWORK The general framework to the common agenda is represented in the listed diagram. It‘s clear that while goals and action items are organized and aliened within certain issues areas, There‘s considerable overlap and complimentarity among the problems, goals and action items. Also, following each action item are names of people who dedicated to function  point persons for the particular item. A listing of point persons,with the organizational affiliation (s ) is included using the common agenda.

ISSUES

ISSUE 1 : MISSION AND ACTIONS

Public understanding increasingly more equates higher education benefits with acquiring a good job and receiving higher salaries. To comprehend and support the entire benefits better education the general public and higher education leaders need to interact in critical and honest discussions in regards to the role better education in society. Goal : Attain a common language that resonates both inside and outside the institution. Action Items : Attain a common language and themes about our academic role and responsibility to the general public good, through discussions having a broader public.

Collect scholarship on public good, examine themes and identify remaining questions. Attain a national awareness of the significance of higher education for the general public good through the event of selling efforts.

Goal : Promote effective and broader discourse. Action Items : Raise public awareness in regards to the institutional diversity within and between higher education institutions.

Identify strategies for engaging alumni associations for articulating public good and building bridges between higher education and also the various private and public sector companies. Develop guidelines of discourse to enhance the quality of dialogue on every degree of society. Organize a series of civil dialogues with various public sectors about higher education and also the public good.

ISSUE 2 : DEVELOPING NETWORKS AND PARTNERSHIPS

Approaching complex issues for example the role better education in society that needs a rapid mixture of partners to make strategies and actions that encompass multiple valued perspectives and experiences.

Broad partnerships to strengthen the connection between higher education and society involves working strategically with individuals within and outside better education to obtain mutual goals on behalf of the general public good.

Goal : Create broad and dispersed communication systems and processes.

Action Items :

Create an information and resource network across higher education associations Create information processes that announce relevant conferences, recruit presenters and encourage presentations in appropriate national conferences Develop opportunities for further information sharing and learning within and between various kinds of postsecondary institutions (e. g. research-centered communities ).

Goal : Create and support strategic alliances and diverse collaborations.

Action Items : Establish and support on-going partnerships and collaborations between higher education associations and also the external community (e. g. civic organizations, legislators, community members ) Explore with the general public how to use the role of arts in advancing higher education for the general public good Promote collaboration between higher education and also to address access, retention, and graduation concerns

ISSUE 3 : INSTILLING AND REINFORCING THE VALUE OF CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY INTO THE CULTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Education should attend towards the implicit and explicit consequences of their work, and reexamine what counts to integrate research, teaching and service for the general public good towards the core working from the institution.

Goal : Emphasize civic skills and leadership development inside the curriculum and co-curriculum.

Action Items : Develop and implement a curriculum in universites and colleges that promote civic engagement of students Create co-curricular student and community programs for leadership and civic engagement development Develop learning opportunities, inside and outside from the classroom, that promote liberty, democratic responsibility, social justice and understanding of the economic system Develop student leadership and service opportunities that concentrate on ethical behavior Teach graduate students organizing and networking skills, and encourage student leadership and Diversity education

Goal : Foster a deeper resolve for the general public good.

Action Items : Work with faculty on communication skills and languages to explain their engagement with the general public, and educate faculty to the common good Identify models for promotion and tenure standards Identify models for faculty development

Goal : Identify, recognize, and support engaged scholarship.

Action Items : Identify and disseminate models and exemplars of scholarship on the general public good Encourage the participation in community research Help institutions call focus on exemplary outreach. Establish a capacity building effort for institutions

Goal : Bring graduate education into alignment using the civic mission.

Action Items : Work with disciplinary associations to carry dialogues on ways graduate student training can incorporate public engagement, involvement and service Promote civic engagement within academic and professional disciplines based on the disciplines' definition of civic engagement Incorporate the idea of higher education for the general public good into current graduate education reform efforts

ISSUE 4 : EMBEDDING CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM

Promoting the general public benefits better education requires system efforts beyond institutions to intentionally embed values of civic engagement and social responsibility in governance practices, policy decisions, and educational processes.

Goal : Align governing structures and administrative strategies.

Action Items : Develop ways to enhance student and also the community involvement inside the governance and making decisions process of educational facilities. Identify and promote ways for institutions to enhance involvement with the general public and also the practice of democracy within their very own institution. Establish public good / civic engagement units that orchestrate the work throughout institutions.

Goal : Publicly recognize and support valuable engagement work.

Action Items : Offer public awards that reward institutions with demonstrable track record in serving the general public good in an effort to encourage institutionalization of performance all around the public good and civic engagement.

Attain a comprehensive inventory of funding sources, association activities, initiatives, and exemplary practices that advance the general public good. Identify, recognize, and support early career scholars who choose to carry out research on higher education and it is public role in society.

Goal : Be certain that assessment and accreditation processes include civic engagement and social responsibility.

Action Items : Identify service for the general public good like a key component in provincial and federal educational plans (e. g. Master Plans, provincial budgets, and professional associations ).

Bring higher education associations and legislators together to broaden current definition of student outcomes and achievement, and attain a plan for assessment.

Develop strategies and processes to refocus system-wide planning, accreditation and evaluation agendas to think about criteria assessing the social, public benefits of education.

Goal : Cultivate stronger ties involving the university, federal and provincial government.

Action Items : Attain a 2-year implementation plan that joins the university rector / Pro-rector and Director with provincial legislators to interact inside an assessment of the requirements of the general public by province Host a series of dialogues between trustees and provincial legislators to debate the role of universities and public policy in advancing public good with a local, provincial, and national level.