Beacons for public engagement initiative

Online survey of UK higher education staff, and researchers

The Initiative

The Beacons for Public Engagement (BPE) initiative was launched by the UK Higher Education Funding Councils, Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust in January 2008.

The initiative aims to:

• Encourage a change in culture within Higher Education with regard to engaging with the public.
• Support the development of public engagement across all subject areas and activities.

This ongoing work is to be achieved through building on and refining existing work, and through the development of new practice.

There are six Beacons for Public Engagement based around the following universities:

• Beacon North-East (Newcastle and Durham)
• CUE East (UEA)
• Edinburgh Beltane (Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh Napier, UHI Millennium Institute, Edinburgh College of Art, Queen Margaret)
• Manchester (Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan, Salford)
• UCL (UCL and Birkbeck)
• Wales Beacon (Cardiff and Glamorgan)

There is also a National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) involving the universities of Bristol and UWE.

The Evaluation

Oakleigh Consulting Limited are evaluating the Beacons for Public Engagement (BPE) initiative on behalf of the funders.

An online survey was completed in 2008 forming part of our baseline assessment for the evaluation.

A similar survey is now available to allow us to identify any changes in perceptions relating to public engagement.

This survey is for all staff working in:

• UK higher education institutions.
• UK research institutes or centres.

We are interested in the views of staff within both BPE institutions and those who are not in BPE institutions because we want to see what is happening across the sector, so please complete the survey wherever you work.

Completing the questionnaire

The questionnaire will be available online from Monday 15th February to Friday 2nd April 2010.

You can find the 2010 Public Engagement perceptions questionnaire on the Oakleigh surveys website.

If you have any queries regarding the completion of the e-survey, please contact Zeb Nash at Oakleigh.