Registration is now open! Webinar "Social Commitment and Community Engagement in Higher Education in Latin America and Europe: Sharing Experiences and Institutional Self-Reflection Frameworks"

The Covid-19 pandemic has been yet another proof of how important it is for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to cooperate with their broader communities in mutually beneficial ways (both locally and globally), and it has also made the value of such collaborations more evident than ever.

In recent years, the emphasis on community engagement in higher education in Europe and Latin America has been renewed, but in many cases higher education institutions still lack a common framework that can help them institutionalize their cooperation and inform policy makers about the value of their participation. Anyways, there are a significant number of good practices and experiences that are a reference to advance in new stages of consolidation and projection of social commitment and community engagement.

In this webinar we will explore and share some of those good practices and initiatives from Latin America and Europe to promote social commitment and community engagement in higher education. We will also explore a Toolbox for institutional self-reflection developed by the TEFCE project, as well as a practical experience of applying and piloting the Toolbox at the University of Girona.

The webinar will be held in Spanish and English and simultaneous translation will be provided for both languages. Registration is now closed. Places were limited and applications have been accepted on a first-come first-serve basis. Thank you very much for your interest!

For more information on the TEFCE project, the work of GUNi in relation to social commitment and the studies and work of the IISUE in these terms please visit www.tefce.eu, www.guninetwork.org; www.iisue.unam.mx or contact info@guninetwork.org and didrik@unam.mx

Programme:

• Introduction to the webinar (5’)
Josep M. Vilalta, director of the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi)

• Welcome Words (5’)
Hugo Casanova, director of the Institute for Research on the University and Education (IISUE-UNAM)

• Social Commitment and Community Engagement in Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (10’)
Axel Didriksson, president of GUNi for Latin America and the Caribbean (GUNi-ALC)

• Towards a New Framework for Community Engagement in Higher Education: the TEFCE Toolbox for Institutional Self-Reflection (20’)
Thomas Farnell, coordinator of the TEFCE project, Institute for the Development of Education (IDE)  

• The TEFCE Toolbox at the University of Girona (15’)
Silvia Llach, vicerector for Territory and Social Commitment, University of Girona

• Good Practices from Latin America and the Caribbean (30’)
Marcelo Knobel, former rector of the University of Campinas, Brazil
María Magdalena Serraute, Director of the Service-Learning Programme of the Latin American Pact for Education with Human Quality (PALECH)
Freddy Álvarez, former rector of the National University of Education of Ecuador (UNAE)

• Open debate (20’)