Community

Engaging with the community is fundamental to who and what we are as a university. We believe strongly in universities and communities working together.

Combining resources and experience can make a huge difference to the effectiveness of community-based activities, the quality of university education and the experience of our students and staff, as well as the lives of local people.

You can create an impact in both local and global communities by supporting the University of Brighton.

Our award-winning community activity

The Community-University Partnership Programme, or Cupp, coordinates most of the community engagement work across the university. Hundreds of staff and students engage with over 650 community partners through the Cupp helpdesk, student projects and On Our Doorsteps activities.

Cupp creates communities of practice: bringing together groups of people from academic and non-academic situations with a common interest in, say, families, older people, disabilities or minority ethnic communities. These groups encourage the sharing of understanding and perspectives and allow the members to benefit from both academic and real-world input.

One focus of Cupp’s activities is the programme, On Our Doorsteps, which is about the university being a good neighbour through supporting communities and activities that are close to our campuses in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. One example is the Darley Road local food initiative. Part of the Eastbourne campus has been transformed into allotments, tended by over 35 staff and students from the schools of Service Management and Health Professions, local residents and clients from Sussex Oakleaf Trust. The trust provides support for people with mental health problems and other vulnerable people needing housing support. There are plans to expand the idea to other parts of the campus.

Actively addressing community needs

Active Student, the university’s student volunteering scheme and one of a number of ways for our students to interact with the local community, coordinates voluntary placements (varying in length from a few weeks to a year), providing opportunities which are rewarding and safe. For example, our pharmacy students volunteer with older people to offer advice about their medication and how to take it, helping increase the students’ confidence and allowing them to apply their knowledge.

Individual schools also encourage student and staff community activities. Students at the Chelsea School of Sport based in Eastbourne work with local schools and young people through their dance companies, Kick-Start and Fidget.

 Football 4 Peace, our pioneering international community relations initiative, recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. Students from UK and German universities have travelled to Israel, Jordan and Ireland, with the aim of helping to build bridges in divided towns, villages and neighbourhoods. This is done by coaching football to mixed groups of Arab and Jewish children in Israel, refugees and local children in Jordan, as well as children from either side of the border from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Teenagers from the Whitehawk area of Brighton have had the chance to try their hands at fashion design as part of a project with the Faculty of Arts. Colleagues led fashion design workshops for Crew Club, a local activity programme which offers opportunities and a safe place to children from Whitehawk. The teenagers looked at elements of design, from recycled fashion and fashion design, to illustration, basic pattern cutting and sewing techniques and the project finished with the students styling a photo shoot with their designs.

The university is a founding member of the Talloires Network. We have pledged to demonstrate that community activity is a vital part of our mission. The network is an international association of institutions committed to strengthening the civic roles and social responsibilities of higher education. We were one of two UK universities to sign the original declaration with 27 other institutions from across the world. There are now more than 220 active member organisations.