CIVIC ENGAGEMENT CENTER (CEC)

Motto: Engage to learn, learn to care

The Civic Engagement Center (CEC) was founded in 2022, with the mission of strengthening the institutional capacity by fostering attitudes and prosocial skills of students and members of the academic community, towards their development as agents of social change through responsibility and compassion. The CEC is subordinated the Vice-Rector responsible for the didactic activities at USAMV Cluj-Napoca.

Objectives:

Institutionalization of the Service-Learning educational strategy, which offers the students opportunities to experience meaningful learning based on the needs of the community.
Contributing to the accomplishment of the third mission of the University, in the direction of becoming a “civic Higher Education Institution”.
Fostering the attitudes and civic competencies of students, through actions aiming to increase responsibility and compassion toward people, animals and the environment.

Activities of the Civic Involvement Center:

Providing advice to teachers on the inclusion of community engagement approach in their learning / teaching activities.
Implementing a Service-Learning transversal discipline to empower the students with skills and attitudes necessary for their participation in various forms of civic involvement.
Dissemination and training events related to the planning, implementation and evaluation of Service-Learning activities.
Collaboration with other centers and departments within the institution to create and maintain an ongoing database of Service-Learning (and other forms of civic involvement) opportunities.
Documentation of civic involvement activities at institutional level in order to identify the stages of institutionalization of SL.
Highlighting the activities of the civic involvement of students and teachers through Service-Learning, by including these activities in the European Observatory of Service-Learning in Higher Education.
Collection of feedback from community partners regarding their needs and the possibility of addressing them through the civic involvement of students.
Accessing funding sources to provide the support needed for community-based learning activities and programs.
Promoting the educational offers of USAMV CN through various activities and outreach programs.
On-campus mentoring activities for high school students that are willing to learn more about civic engagement and get involved with our students in Service-Learning activities.
Informing the members of the academic community about the opportunities of projects, summer schools, winter, conferences, trainings in the field of civic engagement.
Collaboration with similar centers at national and international levels
Inclusion of the Civic Engagement Center in European and international networks of civic involvement in Higher education.

Coordoninator of the Civic Engagement Center:

Alina S. Rusu, Professor, PhD

Alina Rusu is in charge with teaching of the following subjects: Ethics and Academic Integrity (undergraduate level in Animal Science and Biotechnologies), Human Ethology and Animals in Society & Humane Education (master’s degree Ethology & Human-Animal Interactions); member of the General Assembly of the European Association of Service-Learning in Higher Education (EASLHE).

E-mail: alina.rusu@usamvcluj.ro

To whom we are addressing:

Students from all the study programs of USAMV CN, including international students;
Teachers from all departments of the Faculties, to facilitate the connection of civic involvement with the curricular contents.
High school students, through partnerships between their schools and USAMV CN, interested in programs addressing the needs of the community, together with our students and teachers.
Representatives of the community (NGOs, companies, other structures) that collaborate or are interested in collaborating with USAMV CN in the process of Service-Learning implementation.
Alumni of USAMV CN that are offering meaningful learning opportunities to our students and / or support in different forms (scholarships, human resources etc.) the civic engagement of the students and other members of the academic community.

Useful resources and opportunities:

The Erasmus+ Project SLIHE – Service Learning in Higher Education http://www.slihe.eu/

European Association of Service-Learning in Higher Education https://www.eoslhe.eu/easlhe

TEFCE toolbox https://www.tefce.eu/

EOSLHE European Observatory of Service-Learning in Higher Education https://www.eoslhe.eu

CLAYSS https://www.clayss.org.ar/english/

UNISERVITATE https://www.uniservitate.org

NESET https://nesetweb.eu/en/

Collaborators with expertise in civic engagement:

Bojana Culum

https://www.eaie.org/blog/podcast-bojana-culum-ilic-community-engagement-.html

Alzbeta Brozmanova Gregorova