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Civic University

CIVIC UNIVERSITY

Our mission towards Civic University is built upon the foundations of the Queen’s University Social Charter, and ensures our local community is a priority and part of our purpose. This mission commits us to work strategically, collaboratively and with integrity to ensure we can successfully serve our place. 

Partners

PARTNERS

We work with and support a wide range of organisations, but we collaborate strategically with a select number partners through formal agreements e.g.  Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or Service Level Agreement (SLA). These partnerships reflect a deeper, sustained commitment to achieving shared goals and impactful outcomes.

Forward South Partnership

Forward South Partnership is an independent charity that works with community, schools, business, public and private sector partners to help regenerate and sustain a healthy and prosperous South Belfast.

We sit on the Forward South executive board and help steer the engagement in the area. We are also part of a citywide structure known as the Belfast Area Partnerships who have led community regeneration initiatives for over 20 years.

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Greater Shankill Partnership

Together with the Greater Shankill Partnership, a community-led regeneration agency in the Greater Shankill area of Belfast, we have a shared commitment to the framework that is the Greater Shankill Children and Young People Zone (the Zone).

The origins of our relationship with the Greater Shankill Partnership lie primarily in the Zone, but engagement over the last decade has been high in volume.

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Market Development Association

The Market Development Association (MDA), established in 1995, promotes the wellbeing of residents in the Market area of South Belfast, aiming to create a community where people want to live, work, and socialise.

MDA collaborates with Queen’s Communities and Place (QCAP) to test interventions and trial solutions.

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RCITY

RCITY Belfast is a key partner committed to providing lasting opportunities in personal and social development, leadership learning and employability.

This continues to be implemented through collaborative work with the University’s Graduate School, and more recently in the delivery of Queen’s University Belfast Level 4 Certificate in Youth Leadership and Community Action (30 CATS).

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Collaborators

Our research, teaching and engagement often takes us beyond our established partners, to work with a range of other collaborators in response to local needs. 

Find out more about some innovative collaborations with community organisations, through programmes of work with: 

Civic Strategy

CIVIC STRATEGY

Times Higher Education (THE) was commissioned by Queen’s University Belfast to undertake stakeholder research. This research focused on the university’s civic engagement with its partners, both locally and regionally, and had a number of key aims:

To understand general perceptions of Queen’s reputation
To explore how stakeholders perceive the contribution of Queen’s to the local / regional economy and society
To understand stakeholders’ perceptions of Queen’s brand and its communications
To understand how collaborators with Queen’s perceive the experience of engagement
To test elements of Queen’s strategy in the civic space

CONTEXT

Generally, civic engagement in higher education is agreed to be a university’s undertaking of the mission to make its local community a priority and part of its purpose. Understanding this, engaging the groups that form its local community – industry, government, education and the general public, amongst others – and working with them facilitates contribution that protects values and enables change.

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