02 May Engagement Australia to Sponsor Community Engagement Best Practice Award
Engagement Australia is very proud to announce that we are the sponsors of the ATEM Excellence in Community Engagement Award for 2017.
The Engagement Australia Award for Excellence in Community Engagement focuses on how increasingly academic institutions seek to make a distinctive contribution in the space of engagement, linking teaching and research endeavours to the broader community. This award specifically recognises excellence in engagement endeavours.
ATEM’s Excellence in Community Engagement Award winner in 2016 was Bond University’s Pathways and Partnerships Team lead by Catherine O’Sullivan and Leann Wilson. Their engagement initiative ‘Women Yarning Up’ focussed on increasing the retention rate for Indigenous students through to the end of secondary schooling (Year 12), thereby opening up more options for tertiary education such as University qualifications. They achieved this through providing opportunities for School Principals and University representatives to engage with remote Indigenous communities and experience the realities of life in those settings. This allowed leading secondary school educators to develop a deeper understanding of cultural and social parameters and forge one-on-one connections with the families involved.
Testimonial Pathways and Partnerships Team (Winners, 2016) stated that “Winning the 2016 ATEM Award for Excellence in Community Engagement gave Bond University a broad platform to promote our extensive work in the area of Indigenous tertiary education. The application process itself prompted us to focus on the outcomes of our Women Yarning Up initiative; following up with participants to ascertain the practical actions they had taken in the aftermath of their experience of visiting a remote Indigenous community. Quite honestly, even we were amazed at the far-reaching and life-changing impacts of this unique initiative.”
The purpose of the ATEM Awards for Best Practice in Tertiary Education Management is to recognise and acknowledge excellence in professional management and administration by staff of tertiary institutions, or directly associated agencies, in the Australian and New Zealand tertiary education sector, whether or not members of ATEM.
Awards will recognise excellence in the character and quality of provision of tertiary education management. The panels will consider submissions, which are consistent with the purpose and ethos of a tertiary institution or agency, and beyond the provision of the core academic and research functions of a tertiary institution.
Awards are open to managers, administrators and teaching / research staff and we encourage both individual and team applications by our member universities.
For more information regarding the selection criteria and how to apply, click here