Why the time is right for a civic turn

This chapter introduces the key themes of the volume, providing historical and policy context for the concept of the civic university. It argues that, given the right resources and commitment, a civic orientation has the potential to produce deep, broad and lasting benefits for communities. The idea of the civic university offers a driving logic that can frame strategies and decisions across a swathe of domains, from learning and teaching to economic, environmental and wellbeing impacts within the communities that universities serve. This requires a searching analysis of who universities are good for in addition to what they are good at. The chapter introduces the Civic Impact Framework, prototyped by the Civic University Network, as a way to enable universities and their partners to understand the difference they are making and challenge themselves to do better. It identifies seven domains in which universities may have civic impacts. Rather than offering a unified set of metrics to measure impact, the framework emphasises institutional reflection and learning by adopting a ‘maturity matrix’ model for understanding strategic progress and encouraging peer learning.