Background

On September 23, 2010, a group of international networks (known as the Big Tent group[i]) working on the community-university research and Engagement issues released the first Global Communiqué on the “Enhancement of North-South Cooperation in Community University Engagement”.  On October 8, 2011, the Big Tent Group[ii] released the second global dialogue communiqué on “A Scenario for Community-University Engagement in 2030”.   Big Tent III will offer suggestions for how universities and communities can work together to make the transition to a sustainable world. As with the earlier communiqués, this statement will be open source and will be owned by all who participate with the rights to re-distribute and share within all networks.

Theme of Big Tent III: The Questions

According to many, the technological potential for a transformation towards a sustainable society is available.  Business and financing models for the transition exist, and the political instruments needed for a climate-friendly transformation are known. In the interest of moving the forward, we need more interaction between politics, society, science and the economy. Can we move from the slow lane to the fast lane?

1. How can Community University Research and Engagement Partnerships contribute to environmentally sustainable economic and social development in the transformation of our societies?
2. How can knowledge and education be drivers of the transformation process?

How to Participate

Go to PERARES Debate.  Click on ‘all debates’ and find “Big Tent Discussion on Sustainability, Knowledge and Democracy”.

The moderator of the discussion is Nicola Buckley , Head of Public Engagement at Cambridge University (UK) and the Living Knowledge Network. Budd Hall, UNESCO Co-Chair in Community Based Research (University of Victoria, Canada) is also available for questions.

The discussion opens: April 24 and continues until 6 pm Central European time on May 11.

Background documents:

German Advisory Council on Global Change

GUNI World Report on Higher Education and Sustainability 

The Communiqué and its Audience/Purposes

We will produce a 2-3 page statement following international norms for policy and advocacy declarations and agreements. With Rio + 20 in the air on the United Nations front and all regional political structures dealing with issues of sustainability, our communiqué will find many policy targets including of course our own networks and institutions. Past communiqués have had very wide distribution throughout the Big Tent group which represents about 5,000 higher education and civil society groups and other key global higher education spaces.

Timing: Focus on May 8-12

The release of Big Tent III will be linked to the 5^th International Conference of the Living Knowledge Network in Bonn, Germany May 9-12. The dialogue will begin in advance; an intensive consultation will take place between  May 8-11, with the draft final communiqué to be read aloud at the final closing session of the Living Knowledge Network meeting on May 12th. A final text version will be formatted and distributed through the Big Tent networks and other social media.

 [i] The Big Tent group of networks consists of Centro Boliviano de Estudios Multidisciplinarios, Commonwealth Universities Extension and Engagement Network, Global Alliance on Community Engaged Research, Global Universities Network for Innovation, Living Knowledge Network, PASCAL International Observatory, Participatory Research in Asia, and the Talloires Network