It turns out Simon Fraser University is not alone in appreciating the value and potential of community-university engagement.

I recently had the privilege of participating in the sixth annual Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi) conference in Barcelona.

GUNi is an international network created by UNESCO, the United Nations University and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-Barcelona Tech following the 1998 UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education. Its mandate: to explore and promote the exchange of value between higher education and society globally.
 
The theme of this year's conference centred around building transformative knowledge to drive social change, and I'm proud to say that SFU played a major role. 

Our Vice President of External Relations, Philip Steenkamp, gave a workshop presentation on SFU Public Square; I spoke at a plenary session about the challenges and opportunities associated with SFU's new strategic vision as an "engaged university"; and SFU's community engagement activities in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside were featured in a poster presentation.
 
In addition to showcasing SFU and its vision to the international community, the conference also served to demonstrate that while there are many fine examples of engagement at universities around the world, SFU is one of very few universities to have embraced engagement as a defining and informing value of the institution as a whole. 

Though we still have much to learn from others, it was heartening to see how much others are now looking to learn from our experience.