Throughout their long history, higher education institutions (HEIs) have regularly been confronted with intensive discussions about their position in society. They have faced a fundamental paradigm shift about what they are expected to accomplish on an economic, social, and environmental level, how they are to be made more accountable to society, and which forms of relationships with partner organizations shape this transformation. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many endeavours of HEIs have been subject to uncertain conditions due to limited access to partner organizations, reduced operating hours or other issues. These uncertainties have also affected the area of applied teaching, in which educators cooperate with external partners such as non-governmental organizations or schools in the framework of their courses (campus-community partnerships – CCPs). Unfortunately, in the aftermath of the pandemic, many active cooperations were reduced to a minimum. In addition, HEIs have been going through far-reaching processes of transformation in terms of their needed societal impact, which makes CCPs even more important (Fahrenwald et al. 2023). Applied coursework with community partners has multifold benefits for students and fosters civic engagement with mutual, inter-organizational learning. CCPs – defined as the specific cooperation of higher education institutions with community partners pursuing common goals by exploring a relevant societal problem to improve the living conditions in communities, regions, or cities – have proven to be relevant for innovative teaching, applied research and the third mission of universities (Butterfield & Soska 2004). Strategies must be identified, how to revitalize and maintain these cooperations after the pandemic, even if uncertainty remainsin, by andbetween organizations.

Against this background, the following questions arise to which degree these CCPshave been institutionalized and supported so far and which interorganizational learning challenges relate to this form of cooperation. Questions are discussed within the framework of societal transformation and uncertainty addressing the institutionalization of suitable framework conditions for the promotion of social innovation for CCPs.

The first presentation explicates the existing organizational structures for CCPs in Germany on the basis of a nationwide survey with n=101 board members from HEI in 2023. This recent study sheds light on the level of institutionalisation of CCPs. The second presentation focusses on the perspectives of HEIs’ educational leaders on CCPs in Austria. In a nationwide, quantitative, cross-sectoral survey it succeeded in giving voice to a target group, which is hard to reach (top educational leaders). The third presentation shows a specific CCP between HEI and municipalities in Norway who collaborate across public sectors. The study shows how the campus-community partnership is organized and which benefits arise.  The fourth presentation also shows a specific CCP between HEI and a region in Germany. Data from this longitudinal study is meaningful because it focuses on the perspectives and experiences of community partners in a yearlong study against the background that studies usually report on HEIs’ perspectives more often than those of community partners. All results from the four presentations are showcased within specific theoretical frameworks, as indicated in the abstracts, in order to highlight relevant organizational aspects.

The symposium will analyse CCPs in the framework of organizational uncertainty and discuss innovative teaching perspectives between higher education institutions and community partners from three national perspectives (Austria – Germany – Norway). First, (1) all presentations explore the state-of-the art of campus-community partnerships in their country from recent, national data, and second, (2) they analyse these partnerships in the light of post-pandemic teaching conditions and as inter-organizational learning challenges. The symposium, thus, contributes to innovative teaching and better coordinated practice, and is at the same time based on empirical findings in all participating countries.

Butterfield, A. K. & Soska, T. M. (2004). University-Community Partnerships: An Introduction. S. 1-11. In: Soska, T. M. & Butterfield, A. K. (eds.). University-Community Partnerships. Universities in Civic Engagement. New York and London: Routledge. Fahrenwald, C., Resch, K., Rameder, P., Fellner, M., Slepcevic-Zach, P. & Knapp, M. (2023). Taking the Lead for Campus-Community-Partnerships in Austria. Frontiers in Education, 8:1206536. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2023.1206536.