Reward and Recognition through a PVCs Eyes

In his opening remarks Gerry Kelleher outlined the journey MMU was taking to embed engagement: moving from a situation where there was lots of public engagement activity happening in a rather disconnected way, to one where there was a much more strategic focus.

Keith Barnes picked up on Gerry’s remarks, and wondered why it was that staff often conducted their engagement ‘under the radar’ and weren’t confident that what they were doing would be valued.  He sees the beacon in Manchester as playing a crucial role in legitimising this activity.  Reward and recognition is crucial because it is a way of reinforcing the strategic importance of engagement. 

Erinma asked whether the current and future cuts to funding would mean Public Engagement was one of the first areas to be sacrificed.  Both Gerry and Keith argued that engagement is even more important in challenging times, as it is a way of demonstrating the positive benefits and impacts of universities.  Cuts do focus the mind on priorities – and for both, engagement will remain a high priority.  In Gerry’s words:

 ‘it’s what universities are here to do’.

The discussion closed with reflections on current ‘reward and recognition’ activity in both universities.  Gerry explained how  public engagement was now explicit in promotions criteria for readers and professors at MMU, and how one of the seven promotions made last year was based on the candidate’s public engagement work.  Keith described how Salford’s new VC was pressing for urgent change around this agenda, and how a major focus would be around training, developing and promoting staff for their engagement work.

View this discussion on Slide Share (external site)