Community engagement time release (CETR)

Normally, no. A staff member may access up to five (5) days per calendar year (January to December) of time release to participate in approved community engagement activities that satisfy the parameters in this policy and ‘where it occurs during the staff member’s normal working hours’.

There may be a case for requesting special exemption in an instance where the community engagement activity is with an established ACU partner organisation and only occurs at a specific time outside of work hours and participation directly impacts your ability to work during office hours. (E.g. Catholic Care Connections Week project which occurred from 5am-9am and 8pm-12am over the course of one working week; for OHS reasons it was not possible for staff to participate in this activity and attend their normal full workday). Any special requests should be submitted to the staff member’s supervisor, and the Pro Vice-Chancellor Engagement, for appropriate consideration and approval.

Normally, no.

If you are an academic staff member, community engagement time release needs to be consistent with the Principles for allocating academic workload under the Academic Workload Policy. Australian Catholic University focuses its community engagement on academic staff expertise in teaching and research. Thus, community engagement will normally be embedded within your teaching and/or research workload. In special circumstances, it may be reflected in the other activities component of your workload. Specifically, D14 of the Academic Workload Policy provides that academic staff may participate in a range of activities including approved Community Engagement Time Release activities not embedded within the staff member’s academic role.

Academic staff also have the opportunity to apply to work on a community-initiated research project through the Stakeholder Engaged Scholarship Unit and lend their expertise to help address real-world problems identified by community organisations.

Learn more

Continuing and fixed term staff can apply for up to five (5) days community engagement time release per calendar year.

Community engagement time release is not available to staff who undertake the types of community engagement activities indicated in the Community Engagement Time Release Policy as a requirement of the normal duties of their position.

If you are an academic staff member, community engagement time release needs to be consistent with the Principles for allocating academic workload under the Academic Workload Policy. Australian Catholic University focuses its community engagement on academic staff expertise in teaching and research. Thus, community engagement will normally be embedded within your teaching and/or research workload. In special circumstances, it may be reflected in the other activities component of your workload. Specifically D14 of the Academic Workload Policy provides that academic staff may participate in a range of activities including approved Community Engagement Time Release activities not embedded within the staff member’s academic role.

No, you do not need to apply for leave in Staff Connect.

If community engagement time release is approved in Service Central you may participate in the community engagement activities as outlined in your application.

The Office of the General Counsel and Governance Directorate teams came together to participate in a community engagement opportunity that saw them partner with The Big Issue to undertake The Big Issue Challenge.

The day saw them breaking into teams and travelling to the Sydney CBD to support The Big Issue vendors. The objective: to sell as many copies of the magazine as possible. 

Armed with their creative sales strategies and bright, eye-catching marketing materials, the experience took the teams out of their comfort zones, but also gave them a unique chance to undertake an empathy-building exercise. Staff were put in the shoes of someone experiencing significant disadvantage seeing first-hand how passers-by treat them. 

"Perhaps the most confronting element of The Big Issue Challenge was dealing with being ignored on the street. Many people walked straight past us, avoided eye contact or tried hard not to engage.” said Dr Diane Barker, General Counsel and Director of Governance.

The Office of the Vice-Chancellor and President (OVCP) travelled into Sydney’s western suburbs to participate in a community engagement opportunity at Foodbank NSW and ACT. Foodbank operate with a staff of approximately 100 employees and over 3,000 volunteers. In NSW, they distribute approximately 200,000kg of food each week and rely solely on volunteers to do this.

Together with other volunteers, the OVCP team packaged an enormous 1,347kg of oranges, 2,415kg of apples, 750kg of mandarins and 2,436kg of potatoes that were made immediately available to Foodbank’s network of community based non-profit partner organisations that serve individuals and families in need.

Sheyana La Brooy, Senior Communications and Administration Officer in the OVCP, said this about her experience on the day:

“It was rewarding to think that the food we packed could be reaching hungry mouths within the week! What was most impressive was to see that Foodbank is a well-managed, innovative and efficiently-run organisation meeting a real and immediate need in the community. The smallest of details have been addressed to ensure nothing goes to waste. This experience also provided a valuable opportunity to work with colleagues and interact with like-minded individuals from other institutions. Whilst our work was but a small part of the operations of Foodbank, it is a collection of such small parts working together that makes the whole operation run successfully. Many hands make light work and it is clear that this coming together of individuals is key to the success of Foodbank in feeding the hungry.”

The team enjoyed the opportunity so much that they have since returned for a second engagement day and are continuing to strengthen their ongoing relationship with Foodbank.