Enabling Engagement: a Study of University-community Engagement at a Non-metropolitan Australian University

The Dalai Lama speaks of interconnectedness and the notion that it is incumbent upon each of us to share our skills and knowledge with others. While this statement does not refer specifically to Engagement, the idea of interconnectedness and knowledge sharing is both the essence and the value of Engagement. Engagement can be formal or informal. It features inter-active, reciprocal relationships that are built on trust, connectivity and shared understanding. Engagement can occur on an individual to individual, individual to community, or a community to community basis. A community is not a singular entity, but a social phenomena that connects people to one or more communities by such things as location, interest or identity. While the University-Community Engagement context is featured in this book, the concepts could easily apply to other contexts such as Government-Community Engagement, or Business-Community Engagement. "This work draws together a lifetime of learning and experience, that's why the Denzin and Lincoln (2003) notion of a 'bricoleur' - being one who works between and within competing and overlapping perspectives and paradigms, resonates strongly with me".