From helping local communities and policy-makers grapple with climate change, to bringing education to a community of Hazara refugees and asylum seekers in Indonesia, our university community has been a constant driver of social change within and beyond the boundaries of UTS.
Social justice at UTS
![UTS researcher Tom Morton interviewing an elder whose village is threatened with demolition to make way for a new coal mine](/sites/default/files/styles/wysiwyg_generic_large_x1/public/2017-10/rio-social-justice-coal.jpg?itok=1G_gwEKP)
Tom Morton interviewing an elder whose village is threatened with demolition to make way for a new coal mine
“UTS has always used its strengths to benefit the community of which we are part,” says Executive Director of Social Justice Verity Firth. “What has shifted for us is a new determination to enhance and scale our contribution in the social justice space.”
Firth led the development of a social impact framework to capture the collective impact UTS is making in social justice and guide the university’s efforts into the future.
The framework supports UTS’s role as a public purpose institution, a social change agent with a responsibility to contribute to local and global communities through research, education and practice.
At its heart, the framework is a key part of UTS’s efforts to tackle some of the world’s most complex challenges and arrive at new solutions. A first of its kind at an Australian university, Firth believes the approach will position UTS as a leading university in the social justice space.
“By positively influencing and enabling the public, our own community and the systemic forces that impact justice, UTS can contribute to a healthy, sustainable and socially just society. And that’s a great thing.”
The framework has been informed through consultations with over 130 staff and students who work across multiple disciplines and areas of practice in order to effect real change.
The process of developing the framework revealed leadership and institutional culture, and trust and social capital as key informers of UTS’s success in driving future transformational change.
These conditions are vital to the success of the framework’s six “domains of focus”. They include giving students the agency to enact personal and social responsibility; being an advocate, critical voice and thought leader on issues that impact communities; and increasing the number of equity target groups successfully completing a higher education degree at UTS.
In some cases, says Firth, the conditions can be met by internal UTS activity; others will require deep engagement with alumni, partners and community stakeholders.
“All six domains of focus intersect with key external influences that will shape the framework and its activities: government policies and practices, industry, international frameworks, and media representations.
“We need to proactively engage with each of these at both the local and global level if we want to maximise our potential for social impact.”
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[Music starts playing]
View of the UTS Tower and then speeded up shot in Devonshire tunnel of people walking before transition to building with words UTS prominent on right hand side.
A series of headshots in succession that explain what social justice means to the speaker.
[Verity Firth, executive director, social justice, Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion, speaks]: “Social justice at its heart is justice.”
[Emeritus Professor Jenny Onyx]: “Fairness and equity.”
[Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Education and Students) Professor Shirley Alexander]: “Making sure everyone in life has equal opportunity.”
[Professor Simon Darcy]: “Being able to do anything that anyone else in the community can do without the additional barriers.”
[Dr Bronwen Dalton]: “It is high time that universities really demonstrated to the Australian people that they care about society and are committed to making a real difference.”
[Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, Director of Research and Academic Programs, Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt]: “A large part of that is working with communities so they are actively involved.”
Shot outside that pans across recreation area in Chau Chak Wing Building and then to students working in groups at a long table, transitions to Alumni Green and people walking toward the official launch of the Social Impact Framework.
[Voiceover of Verity Firth]: “Universities have a unique and fundamental role to play in the 21st century as a public-purpose institution that generates new knowledge and has a footprint in its local and global community we have a responsibility and a desire to act for positive social change.”
[Camera pans around conference room to capture faces of participants and then to slideshow about the framework]
[Verity Firth voiceover continues]: “The Social Impact Framework identifies six areas in which UTS must take action in order to achieve an increased public good, increased social mobility and equity, and the creation of enabling environments for communities to thrive. And at the heart of the framework is our shared vision for UTS’s role in this space, that UTS is an agent for social change transforming communities through research, education and practice.”
[Return to a series of headshots of people speaking about social justice and universities]
[Verity Firth]: “So the framework was developed collaboratively with over 137 staff and students who got together to talk about what they want to see their university be.”
[Emeritus Professor Jenny Onyx]: “The social impact work at UTS is critical.”
[Professor Simon Darcy]: “It’s built on a foundation that goes back 20 years but more importantly recognition by outside organisations that we are bloody good at doing this stuff.”
[Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt]: “Aboriginal people are now starting to see universities as a resource that they can tap into if they have a research question or want to build their own capacity. They can come to us and use us as a resource for their own agendas.”
[During her speaking cutaway shot to Behrendt addressing a conference]
[Faculty of Health Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) Professor Joanne Gray]: “As we prepare professionals for the future I think it’s really important that we consider their role in being able to provide a better world for others and how they can also influence social change.”
[During her speaking cutaway shot to students]
[Emeritus Professor Jenny Onyx]: “And the reason why we punch above our weight is because we have strong networks and commitment within the university.”
[During her speaking cutaway shot to academics talking and a panel discussion on which Onyx is a member]
[Verity Firth]: “We are hothouses of knowledge, of research, of innovation, of new ideas, and it is in the social justice space where universities can really do their best work and the framework is our roadmap for getting us there.”
[Closing credits]
The framework is both reflective and future focused; a living strategy that will inform the next iteration of the UTS Strategic Plan in 2019.
Guided by the framework, UTS will continue its contribution to communities near and far. As part of this broadening of focus, the framework will be implemented in UTS’s own demographically diverse precinct.
“By engaging within our own neighbourhood, we’re responding to a growing belief that universities should be ‘pillars of the community’,” says Firth. “Building rich relationships within it will allow us to demonstrate the very real impact of our work."
Learn more about the UTS Social Impact Framework
Image credits
Photographer: Areeb Hashmi