Expositions of Community-University Partnerships

CUExpo2011 is around the corner now—May 10-14, 2011 in the Waterloo region of Ontario, Canada. Its theme is ‘Community University Partnerships—Bringing Global Knowledge to Local Actionâ. CUExpos have now become a global platform to share innovations in community-university partnerships in knowledge production, mobilization, education and social transformation. Started out as Canadian events at the beginning of this century, CUExpo has now become a global platform, bringing together practitioners and scholars from around the world.

What is unique about the event is its co-hosting by a community-based research centre and a university—CCBR (Centre for Community Based Research) and Wilfrid Laurier University. The CCBR has been promoting knowledge production and mobilization by the community for its own mobilization and transformation for nearly three decades. Its journey during this period has been significantly parallel to that of PRIA (Society for Participatory Research in Asia) in India and South Asia. CCBR is able to pull together such a unique partnership to co-host CUExpo 2011 is indeed exceptionally gratifying to all of us practitioners of participatory research. It also signifies the progress that has been made in identifying complementarities between a community-based research centre like CCBR and an established university of the region.

CUExpo therefore now beacons similar partnerships around other regions of the world; here in India and South Asia, how can such events be systematized and institutionalized, so that community-university partnerships are not one-sided or sporadic, do not merely depend on well-meaning individual scholars or activists, and can mobilise knowledge and financial resources for the long haul? Is it conceivable that new post-secondary reforms in countries like India would promote principles and policies that institutionalize such partnerships? Is it possible in other South Asian contexts? Should the university and other post-secondary educational providers in the region not find a mutually beneficial manner of harvesting vast practical knowledge from civil society within their countries?

The thematic elaboration of CUExpo 2011 illustrates well:

“Complex social issues require global perspectives to inform local action. Community- University Partnerships can be an effective way to stimulate innovative solutions for the pressing concerns within our communities. The potential for such solutions is maximized when diverse partners come together to re-imagine the relationship between the academy and the community, and in the process create new possibilities”. http://www.cuexpo2011.ca

This thematic elaboration can itself be relevant in South Asia, West Africa, Southern Americas—everywhere the demand for new knowledge that transforms, not merely informs, has grown considerably; yet, the supply of the same continues to remain inadequate. The critical reason for it remains our inability to forge meaningful partnerships between communities (and their civil society mobilisers) and institutions of post-secondary education (universities and research institutes). If we can address this deficit, we may be able to transform hearts, minds, institutions and societies!

Rajesh Tandon
April 25, 2011