National Partners
Campus Engage 
Campus Engage is a network for the promotion of civic engagement
activities in Irish higher education. The project to establish the
network is funded by the Irish government through the Higher Education
Authority (HEA) Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) from 2006 to 2010.
The
current network partners include the University of Limerick, National
University of Ireland Maynooth, National University of Ireland Galway
(lead partner), University College Dublin, and Dublin City University.
Objectives
The
principal objective of the network is to increase the number of
opportunities students have to engage with the community while studying
at third level. To achieve this objective a formal network is being set
up to share information and experience on how to embed civic engagement
activities in institutions of higher education, and thus increase
students’ civic awareness while also opening up the institute to its
surrounding community.
Milestones
"We Volunteer!" Photographic Exhibition
To celebrate the European Year of Volunteering 2011 and to recognise the tremendous contribution which student volunteers make to the lives of their communities, third level institutions from across the island of Ireland have come together to develop "We Volunteer!" a mobile and virtual photographic exhibition of student volunteering. The extent and diversity of student volunteering is phenomenal. This exhibition showcases the work of students from over twenty Higher Education Institutions across Ireland with diverse organisations and activities. "We Volunteer!" is sponsored by Campus Engage
Survey of Civic Engagement
Campus Engage has published the first national survey that gives the higher education sector an opportunity to take a ‘snapshot' of and document civic engagement activities across Ireland. Having invited all HEIs in Ireland to participate, twenty-four higher education institutions took up the offer. This marks the first time that a survey of this nature has been carried out, representing an initial attempt to map the range of civic engagement activities across Irish higher education. It has happened at a time when civic engagement in higher education is in its early stages of development and has provided individual higher education institutions (HEIs) with an opportunity to document and review the nature of their civic engagement activities.
Campus Engage International Conference 2009
The 2009 Campus Engage International conference provided participants from community and higher education an opportunity to discuss the potential for change offered by civic engagement partnerships in areas such as service learning / community-based learning, research, civic education and volunteering.
Seed Funding
Applications were invited for projects which fulfil the objectives of the network, as outlined above.
The objective of the seed funding initiative was to support new / innovative civic engagement activities in individual institutions, thereby increasing student and staff involvement within local / national / international community.
The objective of the seed funding initiative was to support new / innovative civic engagement activities in individual institutions, thereby increasing student and staff involvement within local / national / international community.
Visiting Scholars
Campus Engage hosted a number of visiting scholars in the fields of service learning and civic engagement
Building a Voice for Student Volunteering in Ireland
Campus Engage held a national conference entitled ‘Building a Voice for Student Volunteering in Ireland', in November 2010 in Portlaoise. The conference brought together student volunteers from all third-level colleges across Ireland in order to provide them with:
- space to meet, network, and share ideas
- opportunity to share effective practice and create ‘how to' guides on student volunteering
- occasion to reflect on their practice - its nature, impact, value, significance
- opportunity to develop a declaration / action plan for student volunteering in Ireland
Contact
To learn more about the network contact the Campus Engage Network Coordinator:
Ann Lyons
Tel: +353 (0)91 492228
Email: info@campusengage.ie
Web: www.campusengage.ie