CUPP was created in 2003 to enhance the capacity of the community and the University to work together for mutual benefit and to ensure that the University's resources are fully available to, and used by, the local community. The programme addresses marginalisation and social exclusion problems through a series of projects designed and carried out in tandem with local associations. CUPP has begun a total of more than thirty collaboration projects. Through its research support office, it also offers advice, training and consultancy services.
CUPP is avowedly an institution wide project. It is about the whole relationship between the university and its local communities. We work with every faculty in the university and our work links local communities with a diverse range of academic disciplines. As one might expect Social Science and Health provide expertise for many of our projects. Perhaps more surprising are those partnership projects that link communities with Pharmacy, Engineering, Architecture and Technology. We also facilitate community access to university facilities such as buildings and equipment, and to expertise held within administrative staff.
Our projects are described on our website (www.brighton.ac.uk/cupp/projects) and include:
School of Art students acting as learning advocates for artists with learning disabilities on the Access to Arts project. Both artists and university students have achieved remarkable benefits. The artists have produced work of high quality, playing a leading role in the recent In the Frame conference at Tate Modern art gallery in London (http://www.mencap.org.uk/html/arts/in_the_frame.htm ). The university students have had a transforming experience, which forms an accredited part of their degree.
A research and development partnership with local refugee community organisations to address barriers to accessing HE. The project has led to a new service, jointly run by Brighton and universities, for local refugees to support their access to HE.
Research and network development linking community and university practitioners interested in helping people with Aspergers Syndrome. The project has lead to substantial funding being secured from European Social Funds for the Social mentoring project, addressing barriers to employment for this vulnerable group.
School of Architecture staff and students have created a Community studio to house community-led design projects to help disadvantaged young people.
Dispensing with the mystery, where pharmacy students, together with a local community organisation, befriend elderly people and enable them to better understand their prescribed medication.
The Magic box of tricks, linking researchers from the Faculty of Health with community practitioners, artists, parents and young people to produce an original and user-friendly series of workshops and a toolkit to help disadvantaged children bounce back from tough times.
A research skills capacity-building programme for community organisations. CUPP has initiated over 30 partnership projects since inception, and provided advice, training and consultancy to over 350 enquiries through its Research help desk. We have also established the Brighton and Sussex Community Knowledge Exchange within CUPP in 2004, which uses academic expertise to address a significant community-based problem and creates real partnerships between the Universities and the community/voluntary/social enterprise/public sector organisations. The Knowledge Exchange draws on and augments the respective expertise of each partner and takes it structure from business Knowledge Transfer partnerships in the . As a model CUPP draws from a history of community university partnerships in the USA, and from Service learning initiatives across Europe and Canada.
Through a series of projects designed and run in partnership with local community groups, it aims to address issues of marginalisation and social exclusion.
The program was originally funded by an external philanthropic trust for four years to address the objectives listed above. Whilst the overall aim, to build mutually beneficial relationships between the University and local communities, was clear, how to practically go about this was not. Thus the first phase of CUPP was one of mapping, pilot working and programme definition. This phase lasted for most of the first year and included extensive research conducted by the staff team into the aspirations and expectations of 200 plus university and community practitioners. Three pilot projects were also established during this initial phase and the result was a work plan that set out strategic priorities and mechanisms for the main programme of activity.
CUPP’s initial project definition phase began in March 2003, and led into the main programme in January 2004. Following a competitive recruitment process we recruited an external evaluator who started an initial evaluation in October 2004. This stage 1 evaluation was designed to give CUPP some initial feedback on operations to enable adjustments to be made for the rest of the initially funded programme. A very positive report was presented in May 2005 and the recommended changes have been considered and are in the process of being implemented. We are now looking to consolidate areas that appear to have the most impact, namely research, learning and teaching. A second stage of evaluation is underway, which will take us through to the end of the programme.
CUPP has initiated over 30 partnership projects since inception, and provided advice, training and consultancy to over 350 enquiries through its Research help desk. We have also established the Brighton and Sussex Community Knowledge Exchange within CUPP in 2004, which uses academic expertise to address a significant community-based problem and creates real partnerships between the Universities and the community/voluntary/social enterprise/public sector organisations. The Knowledge Exchange draws on and augments the respective expertise of each partner and takes it structure from business Knowledge Transfer partnerships in the . As a model CUPP draws from a history of community university partnerships in the USA, and from Service learning initiatives across Europe and Canada.
We were originally funded by an external philanthropic trust for 4 years to address the objectives listed above. Whilst the overall aim, to build mutually beneficial relationship between the University and local communities, was clear, how to practically go about this was not. Thus the first phase of CUPP was one of mapping, pilot working and programme definition. This phase lasted for most of the first year and included extensive research conducted by the staff team into the aspirations and expectations of 200 plus university and community practitioners. Three pilot projects were also established during this initial phase and the result was a work plan that set out strategic priorities and mechanisms for the main programme of activity.
The programme is innovative in that it is involving Schools across the University and a wide range of community organisations. It is also leveraging the University’s resources in fundamentally new ways to maximise impact and address real social, economic and community needs. Moreover, CUPP is facilitating a demonstrable change process for the university. This is evidenced through the effects on research and teaching. Through CUPP, research that has benefits to local communities has blossomed at the University of Brighton. The partnership working on research projects and the capacity building achieved through our research helpdesk has enabled the university to expand its own interests in this area. Our programme that links student learning to community activity has also had a significant effect. Degrees in a variety of disciplines have been altered to enable community-based learning to take place. Programmes have begun to introduce experiential projects through which students work with communities they might not otherwise have encountered. This experience has a significant impact on expanding students' awareness of social justice/injustice and increasing their understanding of diversity.
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