OSUN and Talloires Network Launch Call to Action for Universities as Frontline Responders

Out of necessity, civically engaged universities around the world are restructuring their research, teaching, and service priorities and practices to address urgent local challenges. The Talloires Network of Engaged Universities (TN) and OSUN have joined forces to support and learn with these "frontline" leaders by listening to and documenting their stories. Throughout 2023, the two networks organized a working group that elevated voices and perspectives from civic leaders at universities in Bangladesh, Chile, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, and Pakistan. These partners are creating a path forward by way of cross-border dialogue and exchange and have released a call to action to further expand their efforts.

Exploring Models of Effective Civic Actors

Dubbed Universities as Frontline Responders, the collaboration documents innovative practices at six participating universities as it encourages other higher education institutions around the world to lead as bold and nimble civic actors who partner with communities to respond swiftly and intelligently to unexpected societal challenges.

The working group also convened 50 university network members, partners, university heads, student leaders, and leaders in philanthropy in Madrid in late 2023 to explore the different models universities employ as frontline responders. Predominantly from Global Majority countries, participants sought to synthesize strategies and articulate a call to action for the international higher education sector.

Global challenges, such as military conflict, natural disasters, and underdevelopment, are intensifying and becoming more complex. Universities situated at the frontline are developing their missions to better respond to these immediate and long-term pressures endured by their students and their respective communities. Self-motivated faculty, staff, and students already volunteer to support affected communities. While such responses are well intentioned, they are also often sporadic, short-lived, and overlap with other initiatives. No doubt, this is due to the reality that root causes and long-term pressures of societal crises are complex and intertwined, requiring a long-standing commitment and a sophisticated approach.

Developing a Call to Action

The white paper that arose from the meeting in Madrid calls on universities to develop a range of infrastructures for responding to small and large crises in their communities in a timely fashion. It recommends that responses should include immediate and sustainable solutions that work with vulnerable communities and directly benefits them. 

The paper lays the foundation for a model that universities can adopt to effectively act as a frontline responder. Six partner universities from OSUN and TN seek to bridge the gap between academia and real-world problems by pioneering engaged research, foregrounding community-based teaching and experiential learning, and supporting the development of students with professional skills for ethical and effective crisis management. 

It suggests that universities operate as part of a network, so resources, expertise, efforts, and influence of multiple universities can be collectively harnessed. A collective framework with coordinated actions ensures individual universities are not working in isolation and unduly exposed to danger.

Producing Knowledge that Supports Public Purpose

The framework offers a pathway for institutions to develop their role as civic actors by expanding universities’ public purpose beyond teaching and research. The aim is for civic engagement, along with other forms of community outreach, can prompt a shift outside campus walls through capacity building, training, and preparedness of students, faculty, and staff. 

By producing knowledge that goes beyond academic consumption and instead supports public purpose, the university places community voices at the center of urgent solutions. This includes integrating community insights into classroom practices and documenting and sharing challenges, successes, and lessons learned to inform future endeavors.

Revising vision and mission statements to reflect a university’s commitment to being a frontline responder and updating pedagogical approaches to align with the ethos of civic engagement are key steps academic institutions can take to become good civic actors. Developing key performance indicators for outreach that capture the impact of the work done is another helpful approach.

Networking with community partners and centering those community voices are some of the significant ways in which higher education institutions can best serve as civic actors and all this is detailed in the Frontline Responders call to action. OSUN and TN urge readers to review and circulate this concise document as a means of building a common agenda among higher education institutions responding effectively to social crises. 

Post Date: 07-12-2024