Higher education is one of the UK’s most successful sectors, producing world-leading research and education, internationally envied quality standards, and a rich heritage of engagement with industry. But Universities also produce substantial benefits for the communities in which they work.
The UK government’s 2022 policy paper ‘Levelling Up the United Kingdom’ identified the critical role played by higher education. Universities support clusters of economic development, generating jobs, growth and productivity. They build human capital through skills development and social capital through their engagement work. They support both physical and intangible capital and contribute strongly to institutional capital within their regions. In sum, a successful place is more likely to be a place with a successful University. As the former US Senator, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, said: “If you want to build a great city, create a university and wait 200 years.”
However, across the world today we see declining levels of public confidence in Universities and the higher education sector more generally, in part driven by the perceived cost of higher education. For Universities to succeed in the 21st century, they need to connect with their communities and demonstrate the relevance of their work and the impact it has in building successful places.
I therefore warmly welcome the University’s new approach to civic engagement as expressed in this public and community engagement strategy. Civic engagement is not new to the University of course. As an anchor institution, we have always looked to work with and support the communities in which we work. But, under this new strategy, this work will take on a new focus and impetus: this Public & Community Engagement Strategy provides a clear roadmap for the University’s civic activities over the next five years.
Informed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the strategy is centred on four main priorities: better health and wellbeing, advancing social inclusion, delivering economic prosperity, and promoting environmental sustainability. It is also informed by research commissioned by the University in 2023 that showed the University is especially valued and recognised for its work in supporting jobs, building the local economy, improving the quality of life in the local area, and in contributing to individual and personal development.
Implementing the strategy will help to build on this record of success to deliver long-lasting and impactful changes, make a meaningful difference to our people and places, deliver on the University’s historic mission to transform lives, and help our local communities to thrive.
Professor Nick Briasby Vice-Chancellor
Our new organisational strategy, Thrive 28, has four strategic priority pillars, with specific accountability for civic engagement in Support our places and our partners.
Commitments to public and community engagement are expressed in Thrive 2028 as follows.
BNU is a University with local roots and global ambitions. Thrive 2028 positions it as outwardlooking, recognising that its value and strength will depend upon how well it values and strengthens the communities in which it operates. These will be local, regional, national or global, depending on the expanding geographical reach of the University. To be successful the University must establish its relevance and instil public confidence. Playing a different and important role at each of these geographical scales, the University will work to enrich the civic fabric of the community, supporting its people, raising and meeting aspiration, developing culture, and all the while promoting our values, mission and strategic vision.
We will work with other higher education providers in key regional and national alliances, seeking to establish influence and the promotion of our strategic interests. We will work with franchise and validation partners to ensure strategic alignment including excellent student outcomes and rebalance the source of our student numbers. We will work in step with employers and industry, understanding their challenges and ensuring that our education, research, impact, enterprise and knowledge exchange are oriented to providing them with solutions. We will reach out actively to engage with our communities, opening our doors to build awareness, trust and confidence. Lastly, we will create an active alumni community, supportive of our mission, and eager for lifelong association with the University
Galvanised by the key theme of further instilling and building public confidence in BNU and, in turn, the wider University sector, Thrive 2028 makes the following strategic objectives for the University. These then partially specify the content the public and community engagement strategy should have. Thrive 2028 commits the University to:
• Create and implement a public and community engagement strategy;
• Create effective fora and leadership for positively engaging with and supporting the University’s local communities;
• Create a strong active alumni network supported by an alumni and development office;
• Create a model for mutually beneficial engagement with schools and colleges, ensuring that our involvement provides meaningful benefit to these partners, such as driving school improvement;
• Scope and implement a set of indicators of public confidence in the University, using them to assess the success of our actions in supporting our places and partners;
• Join the Civic University Network as a symbol of our commitment to the civic agenda, and build on its experience in ensuring we take meaningful action to build our civic role;
• Create a new Civic Committee to lead and oversee our civic work, including the creation of a civic university agreement and accompanying action plan; and
• Seek to strengthen our voice and influence in regional, national, and international networks and collaborative organisations, including higher education representative bodies.
These key objectives within Thrive 2028 directly inform both the creation and content of our public and community engagement strategy. However, the strategy should also reference other key stakeholders, such as our partner colleges; employers and industry; regional, national, and international networks to which we belong; and collaborative organisations of which we are a member, including higher education representative bodies.
It should also reference the importance of mobilising our staff and student body as a whole to deliver civic engagement. This therefore includes supporting our students to achieve experiential outcomes while helping our local communities to thrive; developing connections between our educational programmes and the needs of our communities; conducting research which illuminates and helps address community needs; encouraging community contributions towards a more sustainable environment; and working with communities to make them more equitable and inclusive.
Our overriding vision is for the communities within which we work to thrive, guided by the objectives and processes set out in this strategy. Our approach will be guided by the following ASPIRE principles:
• Agile – We will explore and experiment with new ideas, moving quickly and reacting to the needs of our communities, playing our part in removing barriers to progress and success.
• Sustainable – We will ensure that BNU-sponsored civic initiatives have a positive impact on economic, social and environmental sustainability, as outlined in our Sustainability Strategy and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Appendix 1).
• Purposeful – We will be clear and intentional about our engagement, communicating and demonstrating the value we can bring to internal and external stakeholders.
• Impact-focussed – We will only participate in engagement activities which align with our strategic priorities and carry the highest potential for impact in our communities. We will evaluate the success of activity as projects progress and once completed.
• Research/insights-driven – Our approach to and prioritisation of civic engagement initiatives will be informed by relevant research, data, policies and insight.
• Equitable and inclusive – We will ensure our engagement is accessible and enables participation for all, helping the most marginalised to represent themselves in activities that affect their lives, as outlined in our Equality Strategy.
Our mission is to transform lives through inspiring, employment- and profession-focused education, enabling people to impact society and their future positively. Our campuses sit in some of the most deprived areas in Buckinghamshire and Hillingdon and one-in-five of our students come from areas local to our campus towns. 68% of BNU full-time students having at least one indicator of disadvantage or underrepresentation (e.g. low participation area, area of high deprivation, ethnic minority, disability).
To better understand the challenges of our communities, BNU commissioned research to identify current attitudes and opinions towards the University, and expectations of our civic engagement. Undertaken during Summer 2023, 314 members of the public and 157 stakeholders responded to an online survey, which partly mapped the UPP Foundation and Higher Education Policy Institute Public Attitudes to Higher Education Survey 2022, to provide a steer on current opinion about BNU. A further nine senior stakeholders took part in deep-dive qualitative interviews. Key findings relevant to the public and community engagement strategy are as follows.
BNU is perceived as important for:
• People’s individual and personal development
• Jobs, careers, skills and the economy
• Education, innovation and research
• Improving health and wellbeing
• Quality of life in our local areas
Seven in ten respondents believe we have a positive effect on the local area (29% was neutral) while almost one in two would recommend BNU to friends and family (39% was neutral).
We therefore believe that the University’s public and community engagement strategy should focus on improving the following aspects of life in our communities:
Health and wellbeing – Key to Thrive 28 is embedding a sector-leading whole university approach to health and wellbeing, building on our
commitments to ensure staff and students’ mental health is supported. Equally, we are well-positioned to significantly contribute to improving the health and wellbeing of our local communities through our health and social care courses and strategic partnerships across Buckinghamshire, North-West London, Oxfordshire and Berkshire.
Social inclusion – Inclusivity is at the heart of our Thrive 28 strategy and is a key social determinant of health, enabling individuals to participate in society, particularly those who are disadvantaged, through enhancing their opportunities, access to resource, voice and respecting their rights. Many of our staff and students are from our local communities and so we will work together with our partners to ensure greater understanding and cultural competence in our communities.
Economic prosperity – Thrive 28 aims to expand the quality, size, geographical reach and competitive position of our institution, supporting students’ aspirations for higher learning across their lifetimes while ensuring our courses meet their and local skills agendas. Our education and training offering will also be primed to upskill local communities, providing pathways to our provision, while meeting the challenges posed by technological advancements. Developing research and knowledge exchange initiatives will boost the productivity and output of business within our communities.
Environmental sustainability – Working with and educating communities, while developing research and knowledge transfer initiatives for businesses, will support environmental action locally. Working with partners, we will ensure their operations fully align with the University’s own nature-positive and net zero ambitions and priorities. While a separate priority, there are clear synergies with each of this strategy’s other priorities, helping to create more health, inclusive, prosperous and environmentally sustainable local areas.
To achieve the goals of our public and community engagement strategy, the University has identified eight mechanisms, in line with our strategic priorities, whereby one or more will be present in every civic engagement activity BNU undertakes.
Community engagement – Building and sustaining collaborative relationships with individuals and groups in our communities to enable greater understanding of issues and identify collective actions to tackle those which align with our strategic priorities.
Communications – Promoting our engagement work and collaborations, to raise awareness of strong practice, inspire others, and open dialogue to create new relationships and initiatives.
Volunteering – Utilising our staff and student programmes to carry out unpaid activities in our campus communities through the provision of people power, offering skills, or sharing knowledge.
Advocacy – Publicly supporting or taking a position, solely or in partnership, on a cause that represents what BNU stands for in the interests of our students, staff and/or local community.
Skills and knowledge development – Identifying local skills gaps and developing programmes to improve community capabilities, knowledge and competencies in these areas.
Research, enterprise and knowledge exchange –Conduct, facilitate and share new studies that create novel approaches and strategies to understanding, experiencing or addressing local, national or global issues which BNU staff and students can both participate in and benefit from.
Business development – Pursuing strategic, commercial opportunities, in partnership with individuals or organisations, that benefit the student experience, our educational programmes and the local community.
Placemaking and place-shaping – Creatively reimagining and reinventing BNU and community spaces in partnership to maximise their shared value. This strengthens the connection between local people and places, promotes their general wellbeing, and creates attractive, prosperous and safe communities where people want to live, work and do business.
Better health and wellbeing (UN SDGs – 1, 2, 3, 6, 10, 11, 13, 17)
Contribute to better health and wellbeing of our communities
• Work with health and social care employers to meet their workforce plans.
• Support community health and well-being initiatives.
• Engage in research to better understand health and wellbeing challenges relevant to our communities.
• Ensure the needs of communities inform the education, skills and training delivered through our health and social care programmes.
Deliver economic prosperity (UN SDGS – 1, 3, 8, 9, 10, 17)
Deliver economic prosperity in our communities
• Encourage more graduates to continue to live or work in our communities.
• Increase the proportion of local eligible applicants to University to take up a place at BNU.
• Contribute to a better understanding of local skills needs and provide education and training to address skill gaps.
• Develop research and knowledge exchange initiatives to boost the productivity and output of business within our communities.
Advance social inclusion (UN SDGS – 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 16, 17)
Advance social inclusion in our communities
• Champion the rights to education of the GRTSB communities, administering the pledge scheme, and encouraging more institutions to sign and reform their practices.
• Work with communities with protected characteristics to raise awareness, combat discrimination, and promote access to education and research.
• Develop a programme of events and/ or research aimed at promoting greater understanding between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
Environmental sustainability (UN SDGs – 3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17)
Contribute to a more sustainable environment within our communities.
• Provide relevant and accessible education, skills and training to support environmental action within our communities.
• Develop research and knowledge transfer initiatives to increase understanding of environmental problems and identify solutions.
• Develop an outreach programme to promote awareness of the importance of sustainability and support actions taken within our communities.
• Working with community organisations, support direct initiatives to improve environmental sustainability.
Identifying social inclusion and exclusion
The success of this strategy will be measured by the perception-based Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) below which reference our public perception research of the summer. The three overarching public and community confidence targets are supported by priority-specific metrics which are all intended to be improved upon. The theory of change model in Appendix 2 outlines how we plan to achieve this.
Performance against the KPIs will be reported to the University’s Civic Engagement Committee (CEC) and Senate quarterly. CEC meeting minutes will be published on our website quarterly, plus an annual report of our engagement activity. The public perception survey will also be repeated midway through this strategy in 2026 so we can adapt or tailor our activities accordingly.
Relevant to all priorities
Better health and wellbeing
Social inclusion
Economic prosperity
Environmental sustainability
Contributes to health and wellbeing in the local community
Helps to address mental health
Helps to address societal challenges
Contributes to fostering creativity and social debate
Importance to economy
Contributes to jobs, skills and careers
Contributes to protecting the environment
Helps to address climate change
Active role in driving initiatives and collaborating with partners to impact local communities.
approach to improving the mental wellbeing of local communities.
Working with partners to tackle poverty, race relations, homelessness, substance misuse
Engaging communities in campus activities through exhibitions, lectures and other.
(13%)
(10%)
(8%)
(12%)
Attract more students, produce local graduates, and drive local investment. 85% (77%)
Develop our educational offering and provide opportunities to upskill. 65% (57%)
Drive public initiatives and empower others to improve the quality of local spaces. 20% (5%)
Inspire local communities and organisations through action and outreach. 20% (5%)
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals were developed and adopted as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The goals were adopted by all UN member states in 2015. The UN SDGs comprises 17 key areas, each of which includes its own narrative and includes qualitative and quantitative targets for improvement. In February 2020, BNU signed the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Accord.
Each of this strategy’s four civic priorities links to at least six SDGs.
• Colleagues to embed strategy across the University, using the eight mechanisms to achieve the goals and targets of each priority.
• University finances to support internal and external civic-related projects.
• University facilities (e.g. short courses, meetings, conferences, library, etc.)
• Staff and student contributions including volunteering time.
• Colleagues to embed strategy across the University, using the eight mechanisms to achieve the goals and targets of each priority.
• University finances to support internal and external civic-related projects.
• University facilities (e.g. short courses, meetings, conferences, library, etc.)
• Staff and student contributions including volunteering time.
• Play a lead role alongside partners in alleviating deprivation and creating more prosperous, socially inclusive and sustainable communities.
• Inspire our students, staff and public to positively impact the local environment, economy, culture and health, while supporting them to thrive.
• Deliver research-informed education and training with global impact that can improve life chances.
• More universities supporting GTRSB communities and more GTRSB applicants.
• Closer working with more cultural partners to help tackle discrimination.
• More outreach and events in communities to foster greater understanding of those with/without protected characteristics.
U T P U T S O U T P U T S
• Colleagues to embed strategy across the University, using the eight mechanisms to achieve the goals and targets of each priority.
• University finances to support internal and external civic-related projects.
• University facilities (e.g. short courses, meetings, conferences, library, etc.)
• Staff and student contributions including volunteering time.
• Play a lead role alongside partners in alleviating deprivation and creating more prosperous, socially inclusive and sustainable communities.
• Inspire our students, staff and public to positively impact the local environment, economy, culture and health, while supporting them to thrive.
• Deliver research-informed education and training with global impact that can improve life chances.
• More students joining BNU from local areas and more graduates working locally.
• Interventions to help combat discrimination.
• Upskilled residents helped into employment.
• Greater awareness of BNU and our civic role.
• Inspiring other institutions to support GTRSB communities.
• Improvements to lives facing social challenges.
• Impactful research/ projects aligned with each priority and UN SDGs.
• We set clear strategic priorities for our public and community work to assess and respond to community needs and requests for support.
• Colleagues and students buy-in to our strategy and vision to become a civic university, especially on measuring and recording impact.
• Human and financial resource are dedicated to public and community activities.
• Our local communities and stakeholders support and buy into our vision.
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This publication was produced by Buckinghamshire New University in April 2024. © Buckinghamshire New University.