YUFE Conference on University–Community Relations: Strengthening Local Impact

A new European resource kit, Partnerships that Work, has been launched to help universities and communities build stronger, more equitable and sustainable partnerships. Developed through the Erasmus+ project SPACE – Supporting Professionals and Academics for Community Engagement in Higher Education, the kit provides four practical tools to help universities and community organisations plan, assess and improve their collaboration. These tools guide users through partnership planning, joint reflection and dialogue, and can be adapted for use at the individual, partnership or institutional level.

Partners of the SPACE project gathered in Girona, Spain, on 5-7 November 2025 for a consortium meeting that marked an important milestone in the project’s implementation. Hosted by the University of Girona and the Girona Region of Knowledge Foundation, the meeting brought together a combination of onsite and online representatives from Croatia, Belgium and Ireland to review progress, exchange insights, and plan the next phase of work.
Over two days of in-depth discussions, partners reflected on the project’s growing impact across institutions and beyond. The consortium confirmed that community-engaged learning has become a shared point of reference within participating universities, influencing both teaching practice and institutional culture.

On 17 October 2025, the SPACE project team held an interactive workshop at the European Association for Service-Learning in Higher Education (EASLHE) Capacity Building Event in Utrecht. The session, led by Bojana Ćulum Ilić and Thomas Farnell, introduced the SPACE co-learning programme – a professional development model supporting university staff in designing and implementing community-engaged teaching and learning.