2006 has been a great year for community engagement at Charles Darwin University. enews has been a powerful vehicle for profiling our engagement, sharing our stories and recognising the efforts of staff, students and our community partners.
CDU’s definition of community engagement is that, ‘Community engagement is key to all of CDU's activities, characterised by two way relationships in which the University forms partnerships with its communities to yield mutually beneficial outcomes’.
Linda Cuttriss, coordinator Community Engagement, says, ‘Every edition of enews in 2006 highlights the strength of CDU’s engagement with its communities. In addition to the regular Community Engagement section, stories from vocational and technical education (VTE), higher education, research, regional campuses, pathways, students and the University’s businesses such as Northern Editions show that community engagement is a key element of every aspect of the University’s activities.
‘Other community engagement highlights in 2006 include the Charles Darwin Symposia Series, the signing of the new CDU-Northern Territory Government partnership agreement and coordination of the Garma Forum in partnership with the Yothu Yindi Foundation,’ says Linda.
‘In 2007 we look forward to another exciting year of community engagement. Skills audits in remote Aboriginal communities, student engagement in communities and workplaces and collaborative research with industry, government and local communities will continue to underpin our engagement.
‘On top of this there will be public lectures, seminars and art exhibitions, the continuation of the Charles Darwin Symposia Series, the Garma Forum on health and well-being and the 2007 Darwin International Guitar Festival.
'A major highlight will be CDU’s hosting of the 4th Annual AUCEA Conference (Australian Universities Community Engagement Alliance) at the Alice Springs Campus in July. The conference positions CDU at the forefront of the national community engagement dialogue and provides an excellent opportunity to showcase our distinctive engagement approaches and practices.’
Linda says, ‘I would like to thank everyone who contributed to community engagement enews stories in 2006. I look forward to working with lecturers, researchers and other staff from across the University to capture more and more engagement stories in 2007. Have a great holiday and an engaging year ahead!’
To contribute to community engagement enews stories, the Community Engagement website or for more information contact Linda Cuttriss at linda.cuttriss@cdu.edu.au or phone 8946 6336.
Visit the community engagement website at: www.cdu.edu.au/communityandaccess/communityengagement/.