Communiversity: Values in Action Project 2020–2022

Abstract

The Communiversity project grew out of the creative dialogue of a collection of like-minded colleagues at a Cathedrals Group sponsored Sandpit event held at York St John in 2019. In Phase 1 University of Cumbria, led a scoping exercise, which explored the range of community engagement/ volunteering projects taking place in the respective Cathedrals Groups universities (Hempsall and Elton-Chalcraft, 2019) Phase 2, ‘The Communiversity: Values in Action’ began in 2020. Having gained funding from the Church Universities fund to build on Phase 1, four collaborating universities each initiated new, or selected ongoing, community engagement / volunteering projects to investigate. With a more diverse, inclusive, outward facing approach to study and learning outcomes or ‘learning gain’ in Higher Education, the concept of ‘The Communiversity: Values in Action’ has brought about a meta-reflexive approach (Archer, 2010) to university experience. It encourages stakeholders to reframe their actions in terms of ‘the bigger picture’ and to broaden the sphere of university activity and knowledge exchange (KE) beyond the campus towards ‘service learning’, benefiting the community (Bamber, Bullivant and Stead, 2013). This involves ‘breaking down the walls of the academy to let scholarship out and invite communities in’ (Lessem, Adodo and Bradley, 2019)