GUNi celebrates its Academic Seminar at the University of Victoria (Canada)

The event took place last 6-7 March, 2013, with the objective to develop a collaborative debate on the regional articles for the upcoming GUNi report. The Seminar followed the events of the public launch of the UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research at UVic.
The Editorial Team of GUNi held an Academic Seminar last March 6th and 7th at the University of Victoria (Canada) with the regional authors of the upcoming GUNi report “Higher Education in the World 5. Knowledge, Engagement and Higher Education: Rethinking Social Responsibility”.
The Seminar was sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada/Conseil de Recherches en Sciences Humaines du Canada (SSHRC-CRSH), and took place in the premises of the University of Victoria.
The Editorial Team for the GUNi Report is composed by GUNi Executive Director Cristina Escrigas, GUNi Research and Content Coordinator Jesús Granados, Guest Editor Dr. Budd Hall (University of Victoria) and Guest Editor Dr. Rajesh Tandon (Participatory Research in Asia – PRIA). Dr. Hall and Dr. Tandon are the newly appointed Co-Chairs of the UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research.
The purpose of the Seminar, entitled “Knowledge, Engagement, and Higher education: Rethinking Social Responsibility,” was to serve as a platform for the regional authors of the upcoming GUNi Report 5 to present the drafts for their papers to the Editorial Team and other authors, with a subsequent debate amongst all attendees and feedback exchange.
The meeting took place in an in-person and virtual fashion simultaneously. In-person attendees were: Rajesh Tandon, Budd Hall, Cristina Escrigas, Jesús Granados, Carol Ma (Asia and the Pacific), Hiram E. Fitzgerald (USA and Canada), Michael Osborne (Europe), Leslie Brown (UVic), Crystal Tremblay (UVic), and Norbert Steinhaus (Associate Chair of GACER and international contact of the Living Knowledge Network). Virtual attendees were: George Openjuru (Africa), Maria Nieves Tapia (Latin America and the Caribbean), Barbara Ibrahim (Arab States), Lean Heng Chan (Asia and The Pacific), Lorlene Hoyt (Regional overview) and Robert Hollister (Regional overview). This presential/virtual gathering was a great and productive success and collaborative effort that will undoubtedly enhance the contents of the upcoming Report.
Canadian launch of the UNESCO Chair in Community-based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education
The GUNi Academic Seminar took place during a very important week at the University of Victoria. On Monday, March 4th, UVic celebrated the Canadian launch of the UNESCO Chair in Community-based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education at the First Peoples House, for which Dr. Budd Hall has been jointly appointed Co-Chair along with Dr. Rajesh Tandon from PRIA. The India launch of the UNESCO Chair took place last December 10th, 2012. The UNESCO Chair is the only one in the world jointly hosted by a northern university and a southern non-governmental organization. The focus of the chair’s program is to build research capacity in the field of community-based research and social responsibility in higher education in the Global South.  The event featured speakers President David Turpin; Vice-President Academic and Provost Reeta Tremblay; Dr. Budd Hall; Dr. Rajesh Tandon; Dean Mary Ellen Purkis, Faculty of Human and Social Development; representatives of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO; and Sinéad Charbonneau, student from the Métis Nation.  To read the Chair’s Framework for Action 2012-2016, follow this link.
International Symposium on Knowledge Democracy
Following the launch, on Tuesday, March 5th, the newly appointed Co-Chairs and the School of Public Administration at the University of Victoria offered an International Symposium on Knowledge Democracy, entitled “Decolonizing the University through Community Partnerships”. The objective of the symposium was to provide visibility to community-based and socially responsible research at the University of Victoria and contribute to the international dialogue on knowledge democracy. The welcome speech of the event was given by Evert Lindquist, Director of the School of Public Administration. The Symposium featured 8 panel presentations: Transforming the Economy; Idle No More in Our Communities; Revitalizing the Languages of the Earth; Citizen Engagement; Non-Profits and CBR; Global Environmental Challenges and Partnerships-Case Study: Sustainable Waste Management; and Brazil and Canada; Street Stories: Experiential Wisdom for Ending Homelessness. For more details on the program of the Symposium, follow this link.