Cuthill, Michael. 2012. “A ‘Civic Mission’ for the University: Engaged Scholarship and Community-Based Participatory Research.” In Higher Education and Civic Engagement, edited by Lorraine McIlrath, Ann Lyons, and Ronaldo Munck, 81–99.

Cuthill explores the construct of “engaged scholarship” as emblematic of the civic mission of the university. For Cuthill, universities have an ethical obligation to contribute to the common good, and he sees this as being particularly feasible through community-based participatory research. Significantly, part of Cuthill’s argument for engaged scholarship is economic and employs corporate jargon: the “development of strong relationships with diverse stakeholders is a pragmatic necessity if they are to survive in this highly competitive market environment” (86), he writes. Further, “engaged scholarship presents a good business model that helps build strong foundations for a long-term competitive advantage for [higher education institutes]” (86). In this way, Cuthill explicitly connects community engagement and economic sustainability of the university system.