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Poirier, Donald Jean

University of British Columbia

Historically, public universities have played a role in the development of society through the creation and sharing of knowledge and upholding democratic values. In recent decades, governments and the public have looked to universities to help drive economic prosperity and address the complex issues plaguing society (Benneworth, 2016; Fisher et al., 2006). This has been accompanied by declining base funding from provincial governments in Canada. The result has been an expansion of universities’ traditional purposes and roles to include their engagement with social and economic communities outside the university while also seeking ways to increase revenues. This research examines the practice of community-university engagement (CUE) in Canada by identifying existing tensions and contributions of CUE practitioners identified as “boundary spanners.” I took a qualitative research approach to this study, utilizing three sources of data: interviews with boundary spanners across Canada, reflective essays outlining their path to their positions, and key university documents articulating their values and place in society. My analysis involved a comparison of values, attitudes, and beliefs between boundary spanners and their institutions focusing on the purposes and roles of public universities in society, CUE practice, and the utility of formal evaluation of CUE practice. I draw upon the institutional logics perspective, as well as literature on boundary spanners and CUE, to understand and articulate the factors and dynamics that characterize their environment of practice. This research uncovers points of tension regarding the role of public universities, the place of CUE practice, and the ways in which formal evaluation responds to calls for accountability. Understanding the complexity and dynamics of CUE practice contributes to understanding institutional processes and to the creation of new imaginaries for higher education.

Text

2024-06-06

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88415

Educational Leadership and Policy

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/