In recent years, there has been a growing effort in implementing community-based learning and teaching (CBLT), which describes an educational experience in which students engage in organised activities that benefit the local community as part of their academic curriculum. CBLT enables students to not only strengthen their academic knowledge, but also enhances their civic responsibility. 

This collaborative project (funded by a QMUL Community Engagement grant from the Centre for Public Engagement) came about as Dr Rehan Shah, who has conducted research into the benefits of CBLT, wanted to engage with existing CBLT programmes at QMUL, and so contacted Dr David Geiringer in the School of History. Dr Geiringer currently runs an internship scheme (‘History and Heritage Internship’ module) at QMUL with multiple (n=60+) partner organisations. Feedback from existing community partners had indicated that community groups would like more active involvement in shaping such partnerships with universities.

Motivated by this, they conducted a workshop held on Mon 22 April 2024 from 2-4pm at QMUL to explore how community partners experience community-university collaborations by bringing together 4 community partners involved in CBLT through Dr Geiringer’s internship modules.

Key thematic insights from the project included (for more details see CPE's published blog post):

• The diverse range of benefits of CBTL - including ‘getting things done that wouldn’t otherwise’, ‘sparking career paths’, ‘pastoral support’, ‘flexibility’, ‘social impact’, knowledge transfer’. It is clear that different stakeholders derive different benefits and outcomes from CBTL, which reinforced the importance of co-design from an early stage of development.
• Mutuality – almost all partners stressed the importance of developing genuinely mutual relationships, but there were differing interpretations of what this meant in practice. There was a general agreement that there should be more transparency about aims, working practice, resources etc.    
• Finances and funding – partners highlighted the importance of prompt payments for their time/services. Many commented on experiencing delays with universities' processing payments/invoices - credit card payments a preferred payment method.  
• Extending access to the wider university - a major theme that emerged from the workshop was a shared will amongst the partners to engage with the university in a broader sense. Access to different Schools/Staff/Institutions, as well as information on the funding opportunities available.  
• Challenge of timescales – several of the partners talked of their current CBTL arrangement feeling ‘rushed’. The prescriptive nature of university timetables means that projects cannot always be completed in the designed time. This is a point which requires continued reflection – how can an institution with strict timetabling requirements accommodate the very different temporal structures of partner organizations?
• Student expectations – partners emphasised the need to set clear and realistic goals for the placements and the supervisor relationships. There was a general agreement that communication between the academic lead and supervisor were vital in setting and managing these expectations.
• Student wellbeing – several partners called for more attention to student wellbeing on the placements. One pointed to the difficulty of navigating different sources of wellbeing support when a student is placed at an external organization.  

In conclusion, the workshop helped all participants – staff from both QMUL and partner organisations – gain a fuller understanding of the challenges and opportunities posed by CBLT. There was a general reaffirmation of the benefits of CBLT, even if there was a range of views of what these benefits were. Overcoming challenges around finances, timings and expectations are ongoing priorities, with a commitment to co-creation, communication and mutuality emerging as key themes.