Community engagement is about relationships, reaching out and building authentic and mutually beneficial connections. The University of Alberta’s century-long history of community engagement is deeply rooted in the connections with the communities we serve.
As an important part of Alberta's economic and social fabric, the University of Alberta is committed to engaging, supporting, collaborating and co-creating more effectively with the many communities of which we are a part.
Bill Flanagan, President and Vice-Chancellor
Report to the Community
During the 2018-19 community engagement consultations, the University of Alberta heard that the community wanted to know more about the work the U of A carries out with the community and a report that provides a compilation of those stories. We are proud to present the Report to the Community for 2021-22, highlighting some of the best stories of the year. For more stories like these, please see the Stories from our Community below.
Community Engagement Consultation Plan
The Community Engagement Consultation Plan contains the results of the year-long consultation, along with initiatives and measures that we plan to undertake in order to put the community’s feedback directly into practice. This plan will support community engagement work over the coming years and aims to strengthen community engagement in its many forms across our campuses.
The community engagement consultation was a year-long process starting in the fall of 2018.
The process consisted of 3 steps:
Development
An advisory committee representing various communities and voices helped create a public consultation process that would engage both internal and external stakeholders.
Implementation
250 organizations were invited and 1,500 respondents participated in the consultation, which included 83 facilitated sessions as well as ongoing opportunities for online feedback.
Analysis
Every response solicited during the consultation was collected, transcribed and organized in a database, yielding more than 11,000 lines of unique data.
What we heard
From more than 11,000 lines of unique data, we identified the most commonly heard pieces of information and tracked recurring themes from the responses. The top five themes heard from respondents form the foundation of this community engagement report and plan.
Theme #1:
Improve Accessibility
Theme #2:
Support and Strengthen Outreach
Theme #3:
Respond to Community Need
Theme #4:
Improve Communication
Theme #5:
Celebrate Successes
Next Steps
We have developed a three-year community engagement plan, with specific goals and deliverables identified for each year. This plan is also a living document so the goals and activities listed may evolve and change as the University of Alberta receives more input and continues to engage with our community.
See a breakdown of the next steps in the plan »
Stories from our community
