Annual Conference 2024

Societal Engagement in Higher Education

Time: 7 May at 13.00 – 16.30
Location: Edda – the House of Icelandic
Registration deadline: 6 May at 12:00, please register here
Conference language: English

Societal engagement is a broad and complex area and the precise form that societal engagement takes is likely to vary greatly between higher education institutions. Strategically it encompasses the ways in which the institution ensures that its core activities of research and teaching connect to societal need and benefit at various levels, and result in opportunity or benefit for individuals, businesses, communities and wider society.

Societal engagement may relate to education and skills development, knowledge exchange and support for businesses or industry, cultural issues or identity, well-being, research which generates new knowledge and understanding, the creation of new technologies, active participation in regional development, or societal reform.  

The conference will stimulate discussion around this wide-ranging topic, including: 

the current societal needs that academia can address, 
the forms that societal engagement can take, 
the range of benefits that effective societal engagement can bring to different groups or
individuals and to universities, 
linking societal engagement with the quality assurance and enhancement of core academic activities.

Programme

13.00-13.05 Opening words, by Crichton Lang, IAQA Board Chair

13.05-13.25 Quality Enhancement Framework 2024-2029 (QEF3) by Crichton Lang, IAQA Board Chair

13.25-13.45 External perspective on the QEF by Achim Hopbach, external evaluator for IAQA

13.45-14.00 Questions and discussions on QEF3

14.00-14.20 Break

14.20-14.50 Higher Education's Value Proposition for Societal Impact by Elsa Núñez, President of Eastern Connecticut State University and IAQA Board Member

14.50-15.20 Societal engagement: experiences and considerations from a Scottish perspective by Andrea Nolan, Principal & Vice Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University and IAQA Board member

15.20-16.00 Breakout session: 3-4 discussion groups

16.00-16.30 Reporting from the discussion groups and plenary discussion

16.30-17.30 Social drinks