Embedding Community Engagement: Northern Adelaide and The University of South Australia
Mike Elliott a, Peter Sandeman b and Hilary Winchester c
a University of South Australia Northern Adelaide Partnerships (UNAP), University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia 5000
b Office of the North, Government of South Australia, Edinburgh, South Australia 5111
c Organisational Strategy and Change, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia 5000
The University of South Australia’s Northern Adelaide Partnerships (UNAP) program is a highly commended example of successful community engagement. The program received an AUQA commendation in 2004. In the same year, the Peer Mentoring program in which UNAP is involved won an institutional award in the Australian Awards for University Teaching, and the Pathway for Adult Learners program, called UniSA-PAL, won the Chancellor’s Award for Community Service. Projects supported by UNAP have gained significant funding from ARC Linkage and Sustainable Regions grants. This paper will describe how UNAP came into being, its role in the University and the community and its performance viewed from three perspectives. The paper will be presented jointly.
1. Introduction
In response to demands that universities justify the large investment of public funds to support their operations, community engagement is becoming a core activity of universities here and overseas. However, community engagement is not always arranged organisationally in a way that reflects its strategic importance or maximises benefits to the community. This is not, however, the case at the University of South Australia, where, in December 2002, with senior management leadership and a commitment of funding over three years, a special unit was established to promote more effective engagement with Northern Adelaide.
2. The community
The program is currently focused on three municipal areas in northern metropolitan Adelaide – Salisbury, Playford and Gawler. It is one of Australia’s most highly concentrated manufacturing regions with General Motors Holden, their suppliers and significant defence companies providing employment. This area coincides with that of a State Government initiative through the Office of the North.
A September 2000 Discussion Paper described this as a region ‘consistently across all postcodes well below the national, State and the ASD (Adelaide Statistical District) average’ (Salisbury, Playford & Gawler, 2000, p. 2) according to the SEIFA Index of Disadvantage and measurements of employment, welfare dependency, and education, skill and income levels. This continues to be the case, as suggested by the data in Figure 1 (DOTARS 2003).
Figure 1, Map showing Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage, Suburbs within Playford/Salisbury Region
and Selected Summary Indicators (a) Playford/Salisbury Region as a Proportion of SA (DOTARS 2003)
Juxtapose this snapshot with other images. Northern Adelaide is home or adjacent to:
· one of Adelaide’s newest residential and commercial developments – Mawson Lakes
· Technology Park, a high profile symbol of the desired future direction of the region, i.e. widening the industry base with highly skilled workers and technologies
· the rich resources of the northern Adelaide plains and the Barossa Valley
· a University of South Australia campus.
What we have is a picture of potential for growth and prosperity, but potential that many northern Adelaide residents, families and communities would probably not be able to access.
3. The University: Momentum
The University of South Australia Act specifically requires the provision of programs for disadvantaged groups within the community. This responsibility has been expressed as an organisational vision ‘to build the capacity and resilience of the communities in which we work through innovative, collaborative and enterprising activities’ (UniSA 2010).
The University has a long association with the area through its antecedent institution, the SA Institute of Technology (The Levels campus). It attracts more enrolments from this area than other universities. Location, academic programs and the University’s social justice agenda had all brought about a high level of engagement there. In 2002, an audit of University activities in the area itemised: 52 existing initiatives; 23 projects under discussion or planned; and 10 ideas for future action. Yet, the activities were not coordinated until, following the recommendation of a University Task Force (headed by the Pro Vice Chancellor of the Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment), the Senior Management Group agreed to set up a special unit. This unit would create partnerships with the community to promote social inclusion through education, training, research and consultancy.
4. Critical mass, synergy, symbiosis
The University’s strategising was well-timed and its social justice agenda aligned seamlessly with a newly expressed vision for Northern Adelaide articulated by all three levels of government.
The 2000 discussion paper of the local government Councils had led to a new, combined government effort. It included establishment of the State ‘Office of The North’ in 2002 and, in 2004, the Northern Adelaide Economic Development Alliance (NAEDA), of which the University is a member, to provide strategic directions for existing regional and local economic development initiatives. This was essentially the same approach as that taken by the University in relation to Northern Adelaide. In 2001, the Commonwealth ‘Sustainable Regions’ program injected $12 million for projects in the area to 2006. The goal of this program is to ‘involve the community in laying the foundation to realise the region’s long term potential to be economically vibrant, socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable building on its natural advantages’ (DOTARS).
An early outcome of this invigorated activity was the identification of significant regional assets (The Office of The North):
· generator industries
· availability of public land
· a good physical transport network
· significant medium-sized businesses for clustering for technology acquisition and global competition
· local governments that proactively initiate economic activity
· a broad range of high quality educational institutions
· a diverse natural environment
· community volunteers keen to work with Councils and other organizations
· strong volunteer networks
· businesses that lead in environmental technologies (particularly water harvesting and treatment).
While there is no disputing the statistics about levels of socioeconomic disadvantage of the region, a survey of workers and regional organisations (The Office of The North) expressed strong belief in its potential and revealed a great resource in its people. This brighter future perspective was shared by what was now a constellation of government and non-government organisations, including the University. Each contributed new resources and a strong commitment to achieving the vision. The synergy of government, the University and the community, the critical mass achieved to effect sustainable change, have created a symbiosis that is becoming embedded in the community.
5. Embedding engagement: establishing UNAP
At the same time as the Government was taking these initiatives, the University acted. It created UNAP to focus on Northern Adelaide to better achieve the University’s community engagement vision and social justice agenda, committing the $250,000 for three years that the Task Force had recommended. It used a matrix to analyse existing University activities and arrange them under four main themes with appropriate program goals.
Table 1 UNAP themes and program goals
Theme / GoalPathways to higher and further education / Increase school retention and assist people from all age groups and backgrounds participate in higher and further education
Capacity building / Enhance professional development, governance, leadership and the evolution of learning communities
Building regional skill levels / Bring together education and training providers so as to meet regional skills shortages and boost local education and skill levels
Social capital / Increase the resources available to the community for building networks of mutual support and well-being.
The University created a Steering Group that is now chaired by the Pro Vice-Chancellor: Organisational Strategy and Change, whose membership includes the Pro Vice Chancellor: Access and Learning Support and the Pro Vice Chancellors who head the four academic divisions. Mike Elliott was appointed to give UNAP a high-profile Director.
6. UNAP in action
UNAP is the first point of contact for matters relating to Northern Adelaide. It brings Northern Adelaide needs to the attention of the whole University and helps create new partnerships, programs and research to meet community needs. It seeks adjustments to existing academic and entry programs, supports staff and publicises the partnerships.
Externally, UNAP brings the whole University to the community, collaborating with all levels of government and government services, with education providers, business, industry, and the professions. The Director participates in formal and informal networks around community issues, programs and projects. In the establishment stage, a large part of the work has involved:
· getting known
· building relationships
· identifying opportunities
· bringing people together
· participating in governance structures and their development
· facilitating partnerships.
UNAP is not a deliverer of education or services but an agent for connecting people and ideas to achieve benefits for people in northern Adelaide. These benefits may not always exclusively accrue to the University. For example, peer mentoring and access programs such as UniSA-PAL could produce enrolments that flow to other universities and TAFE. These and other UNAP projects are listed at http://www.unisa.edu.au/unap/ .
Establishing formal governance and partnership relationships is a way of embedding engagement in the community and in the University, ensuring that collaboration is sustained and outlives personalities and pilot project funding. UNAP has facilitated conversations across different agencies operating in the community and importantly, across the University. Of particular significance are the Memoranda of Understanding established with Government and non-Government agencies around Libraries, Middle Schooling and Health. UNAP has played a significant role in breaking silo thinking.
7. Impact
Results observed by the University
UNAP’s annual plan sets priorities, listing projects and indicating outcomes and measurements to track success. UNAP is subject to regular review.
UNAP’s success is indicated by:
· its high profile in Northern Adelaide and in the University
· its successful facilitation of UniSA involvement in projects
· the number of agreements entered into with community-based organisations (Memoranda of Understanding)
· its governance relationships (UniSA representation)
· statistics, such as school retention in the short term and census data on a range of indicators (education levels, employment, income, health) in the longer term.
The University’s experience with UNAP suggests that similar structures and techniques (eg audit, matrix, steering group, dedicated resources) can be applied to focus existing activities more strategically in other areas. And, at the end, UniSA involvement in Northern Adelaide will be fully embedded. The University will be permanently engaged.
UNAP survey
A barrier to successful university-community engagement is the need to produce results and to do so quickly. One of the significant contributions that the University has made to Northern Adelaide is to be patient. It has also exhibited a degree of selflessness with an emphasis on outcomes for the community rather than for the University. UNAP was established less than three years ago. Northern Adelaide is a long term project. However, we are evaluating it on an annual basis through planning processes and we have in place a satisfaction survey to gauge our success. We need to increase the rate of return, particularly from external respondents. However, the first survey (2004) did include a question about UNAP’s impact in the region with the following effects described:
· increased awareness of UniSA activities in the region
· introduction of activities which support and extend opportunity in the north
· increase in clinical placements and communication with health agencies in the region
· working to link agencies with each other and UniSA
· more open dialogue between organisations
· active participation in progressing concepts
· objective input into regional processes
· a willingness to work together.
Results observed from the Office of the North
In communities in which university graduates (other than teachers) are rare and completion of year 12 is beyond the reach of many students, the presence of the University is having immediate benefits. These range from the new opportunities for the community to access campus resources and staff for teaching of maths and physics to less apparent impacts from the University placing social work students in highly disadvantaged schools. Not only do the school students and their families gain the advantage of casework, but they get to know real live university students, so university becomes real and accessible.
Perhaps the most significant role UNAP has played has been as an integral part of developing education and training pathways from an alliance of schools, TAFE and the University of South Australia to specific growth industries. This has resulted in an increase from 50 to 500 students undertaking regional career pathways to industries from last year to this.
The Office of the North tries to build the University in as a partner in all attempts to meet the challenges of the North. Generally, universities are not good at relating across disciplines and internal structures to respond to the community, industry. UNAP is the means to enable these coalitions.
8. Conclusion
While we are confident that the University review process will confirm UNAP’s effectiveness in achieving its own program goals and objectives and in furthering the University’s mission, we cannot presume that the University will continue to deploy resources to support UNAP. However, whatever the outcome of the resource decision, UNAP has established itself in a manner that will ensure the work will continue through the governance and partnership arrangements. Although there is more work for UNAP to do, the way in which the University has gone about establishing UNAP has ensured that, to a significant degree, embedment of UniSA activity in Northern Adelaide has already been achieved.
References
City of Salisbury, City of Playford, & Town of Gawler. (2000). Strategic Directions for Human Services: The Northern Metropolitan Region of Adelaide – Discussion Paper. Department of Human Services, South Australia.
Department of Transport and Regional Services (DOTARS). (2003). A Regional Profile: Playford/Salisbury Region South Australia.
Retrieved March 15, 2005, from http://www.sustainableregions.gov.au/downloads/sr_sa_pla_profile.pdf
Department of Transport and Regional Services (DOTARS). (n.d.). Regional Priorities: Playford/Salisbury. Retrieved March 15, 2005, from http://www.sustainableregions.gov.au/sa/pla/priorities.aspx