University Engagement with Socially Excluded Communities
'University Engagement With Socially Excluded Communities', Dr Paul Benneworth (Editor), Springer SBM, 2013 Inspired by a symposium hosted by Kite in 20091 this volume examines the pressures and tensions surrounding attempts by universities to engage with socially excluded communities. Its contributing authors, including Visiting Fellow Lynne Humphrey, assess the extent to which "the Academy" can deliver on its promise to build bridges with communities in which higher education is assumed to be of both peripheral ambition and impact. In turn they reflect on the evolving role of the contemporary university as a social institution. The volume does not seek easy answers but looks beyond the simplistic narratives of those who argue that engagement is central to university missions and those who insist that engagement only happens if a means to corporate ends. Through a variety of case-studies and perspectives its authors confirm that the idea of the engaged university is being variously constructed in accordance with internal and external constraints, while the commitment and enthusiasm of individuals is essential to any successes. As an under-researched field the volume offers a defining intellectual statement on the interaction between the concept of a "university" and those communities historically missing from its resource. More information can be downloaded from the publisher at: http://www.springer.com/?SGWID=0-102-24-0-0&searchType=EASY_CDA&queryText=benneworth
1 As part of an Economic and Social Research Council-funded project, "University engagement with socially excluded communities" and led by Dr Paul Benneworth
published on: 28th August 2013