UNIBILITY-University Meets Social Responsibility
Grant Agreement No.: 2015‐1‐AT01_K203‐005033
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT OF DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY
Dublin City University (DCU) is strongly engaged in its social dimension. It has a Civic Engagement
Strategy in place promoting a mutually beneficial relationship between the university and the
community (defined in its broadest sense to encompass local, national and global groups committed
to social, economic, political and cultural development). The university’s Civic Engagement Office
organizes the work of the various relevant groups and is led by Professor Ronnie Munck, who told
us: “DCU prides itself on being an engaged university which is leading in promoting social
inclusion and capacity building in the community”.
DCU is situated adjacent to some of Dublin’s historically most disadvantaged areas. The DCU in the
Community centre provides an outreach centre offering educational opportunities to local people,
thus helping to widening access to and promoting equality in third‐level education. Since 2010, DCU
in the Community has delivered over 50 learning programmes for over 900 community learners and
adults returning to education. The centre also offers educational guidance, student support and
mentoring, among other activities.
The university is also involved in promoting innovation in the North Dublin area. NorDubCo, an
independent agency located in DCU, delivers programmes that produce research while also aiming to
build relationships between business, community and government. With the Office of Civic
Engagement, NorBubCo is developing a Dublin to Belfast “social innovation corridor” dedicated to
applying the university’s R&D to social benefit.
Students in DCU are particularly active in the wider community, with 61% of students engaging in
volunteer activity. Recently, DCU played a leading role in the establishment of the
studentvolunteer.ie national volunteer management system, which aims to co‐ ordinate and promote
student volunteer activity in third level campuses across the country.
The impact of staff and students beyond the campus walls is recognized by DCU in the form of the
President’s Awards for Engagement. These awards illustrate, according to DCU President Professor
Brian MacCraith that DCU strives to be “the antithesis of the ‘Ivory Tower’ university, and,
through, our actions, reflects a clear commitment to the pursuit of symbiotic relationships with
our city, our region and our nation across all of our core activities.” In 2016, the staff award
went to Bernadette Dwyer for the Chekhov E‐book Lit4Life Project, which used technology to address
global literacy problems.