ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a discussion of various approaches to universitycommunity engagement in the United Kingdom and offers a new approach to defining this work as a value-driven, mutually beneficial process of respectful negotiation and practice with partners outside the university. We suggest that volunteering by staff and students is central to this practice, while the historic role of universities in providing opportunities for adult education and lifelong learning is noted as the pioneer of universitycommunity engagement. The chapter concludes with a discussion of some of the data on volunteering and the problems of evaluating the field of university-community engagement. The following linked chapter provides examples from Leeds Metropolitan University (Leeds Met) of diverse forms of community engagement in practice.
