AECC University College

Why we've signed the Manifesto

Serving our communities is at the heart of everything we do at AECC University College. This commitment will continue as we merge with the University College of Osteopathy and become the newly named Health Sciences University from August 2024 across locations in London as well as Bournemouth.
As a specialist provider in health education, research and care from campuses and clinics situated in relatively deprived areas, our strategy is to understand our role as a civic university and maximise the possibilities to support and strengthen the communities we live and work in. We work closely with community groups and support the delivery of the regeneration as a local university and anchor institution within the local systems.
Public engagement is essential to ensuring our education, research and clinical services are high quality, relevant, and meet societal need. We are therefore proud to sign the Manifesto for Public Engagement to celebrate our public engagement ethos and work to date and, more importantly, to demonstrate our resolute commitment to working with the NCCPE to continuously develop our approach. Through this collaboration, we will achieve even more meaningful and impactful engagement with the communities we serve.

Professor Lesley Haig, Vice-Chancellor

Our approach to public engagement

At AECC University College, we have a global outlook whilst being firmly rooted in our local community. We welcome our communities onto campus and work with numerous local and regional partners. We have invested in several new posts (for example, Head of Academic Enterprise & Engagement, Head of Research, Research & KE Manager), which are central to the development of meaningful engagement and partnerships as we expand our reach and partnerships. Public engagement is embedded in our new Academic Framework, which sets out expectations for research, professional practice and education. Our patient and public involvement group - SPaCE (Sharing Patient and Community Experience) - collaborates with our researchers to shape and co-produce research and KE. In 2023, we held our Neighbourhood Festival, a major public engagement event for members of our community. We recently launched our professorial inaugural lecture series and began developing our first public engagement strategy. In 2024, one of our major public engagement activities was our Health and Support Pop-Up, in which a multidisciplinary team of staff and students provided free health checks, triage sessions, group exercise classes and support to over 500 local people.