One aspect of your Transition University journey will be to establish your group, your ways of working, and your place within the university community. This work can be considered part of a general designing phase, and we have grouped it under the following topics:
• Engagement - getting others excited and involved
• Governance - establishing a core group
• Funding - bringing in external support
Engagement - getting others excited and involved
Engaging with others is important as it’s so much easier to get stuff done if you are surrounded by supportive people and partners. And if you are good at getting exciting things off the ground, you will most likely find that you get more and more engagement, more support, more exciting projects… it’s a snowball effect.
The aim of community engagement does not just have to be about getting people involved in your Transition group. It can also be about helping to shift people's attitudes on Transition issues through engaging in activities and learning more about the concept to create a positive perception of Transition.
However, getting people involved can be difficult in a university environment. It requires time, long term commitment, and a building of relationships, but it is definitely possible. A Transition University community is mainly transient and not necessarily invested in a specific place for the long-term, as new students and staff arrive every year at the same time others are leaving. There is a quick changeover of members which means that relationships, feelings of identity, and partnerships that hold the community together are formed and re-formed in short time frames. Building and re-building that sense of community becomes an important part of any project in the university. However, everyone at the university shares the same broad purpose of scholarship and has a similar experience of academia and institutional practice.
It may be useful to think about what practices already exist in your university to establish engagement, sense of belonging, and shared values, such as Introduction weeks, initiation rituals, subject-focused days, weeks or months such as Green Week or World Peace Day, and mid-year or end of year celebrations. It is also likely that the different parts of your university community will be motivated by different goals - make sure to accommodate this!
Evolving
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