Business and Community Engagement (BCE) refers to an institution's engagement with the wider community that may comprise of commercial, public sector (including charities and trusts), cultural, social and civic organisations. In the past BCE has been referred to as ‘Third Stream’, however it relates more closely to the term ‘Third Mission’ adopted by the Welsh Assembly, reflecting its strategic importance alongside Learning and Teaching (L&T) and Research across Further and Higher education.
BCE consists of many different institutional strategic areas/services, some of which are highlighted in the diagram below.
For further information on those institutional strategic areas outlined above, the recent JISC BCE Report provides an overview of the sector’s strategic imperatives for the range of BCE activities.
what are the benefits?
Enhancing innovation and productivity delivering economic and social benefit sums up the benefits of BCE activities. As well as helping learning providers meet their individual missions, BCE activity can diversify income streams and offer a rich source for comprehensive and contextual learning material. The following list identifies those benefits particular to specific external sectors although it’s worth noting there are overlaps between many of them:
• private sector – competitiveness and growth
• public sector – efficiency and cohesion
• cultural landscape – cultural enrichment and quality of life
• social and civic arena – resources and opportunities