Kalinga Seneviratne (June 2025, University World News)

“We educate our students to be responsible citizens and responsible community members … That is one of the most important ways that higher education institutions do impact their local communities,” Dr Audrey Falk, programme director of community engagement at Merrimack College, a US private Catholic institution founded in 1947, told a webinar organised by the University Social Responsibility Network on 4 June.

The online forum, attended by almost 100 academics from across the world, listened to four panellists from the US, South Africa and Australia on the various ways impact assessments are factored into higher education institutions’ community engagement activities.