University-Community Engagement for Sustainability, Penang, Malaysia, 23 - 26 November

With a view to explore an effective and high impact approach for the engagement of universities with communities, the Division of Industry & Community Network (BJIM), Universiti Sains Malaysia, in collaboration with Global Alliance on Community Engaged Research (GACER) and UNESCO-APEID is  organising a conference on University-Community Engagement for Sustainability at Bayview Hotel, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia 23-26 November.

The four-day conference will debate on the university-community engagement that goes beyond outreach and extension or service. The objectives of the conference are: a) to discuss the social responsibility and changing roles of universities; b) to explore methods, experiences and strategies of community engagement; c) to network, share experiences and showcase good practices in university-community partnerships; and d) to promote and legitimise the scholarship of engagement in the Asia-Pacific region.

Universities seek mutually beneficial relationships with communities to address communities’ issues and needs, where there is commitment to democratic partnerships guided by mutual respect. University-community engagement brings mutual learning, reciprocity and discovery in the co-creation of knowledge with all partners. The conference aims to revisit the missions of universities to make this engagement more meaningful, inclusive and sustainable.

The keynote and plenary speakers at the conference include Dr. Rajesh Tandon, President, Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), India; Prof. Tan Sri Dato’ Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, Vice-Chancellor, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia; Prof. Budd L. Hall, University of Victoria, Canada; Mr. Tan Jo Hann, KOMAS, Malaysia; Prof. Shirley Walters, University of the Western Cape, South Africa; and Dr. Molly Lee, APEID Coordinator, UNESCO, Bangkok.

 For more details: http://www.usm.my/icn/ucec/