Community engagement at higher education institutions in South Africa:

Bender, Gerda

doi:10.1163/9789087906603_013

Cited by 26 publications

(50 citation statements)

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“…There are also definitions that see UCE as actively engaged initiatives while others see it as something naturally happens in the context of universities (Bender, 2008). However, the main difference in the various interpretations of UCE, according to Bender (2008) lies in the extent of "engagement infusion" in a university.…”

Section: Community Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability of community engagement – in the hands of stakeholders?

Ramachandra

Mansor

2014

Education + Training

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Purpose -The current gap in the field of community engagement is evaluation and measurement of the impacts on the stakeholders, mainly the community being engaged with. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach -This paper discusses the need to consider the stakeholder's perspective and their involvement in a community engagement initiative, or in any social program. The authors begin by debating the most common evaluation techniques used, followed by re-introducing stakeholder evaluation to the field of community engagement. Findings -The evaluation using the stakeholders' approach will not only create a holistic evaluation process, but will also assist in fostering a sense of ownership of the community engagement program. Originality/value -Community engagement is given much importance nowadays in Malaysia, especially in line with institutes of higher learning's tripartite mission, the third mission being the ability to engage with communities. It is not surprising because community engagement offers enormous benefits for regional and societal development. Community engagement relies heavily on partnership and mutual reciprocity between different stakeholders such as communities, universities, non-government organizations, field experts and funding organizations. In order to sustain the engagement initiatives, it is important to know who are the "owners" or stakeholders of the program.

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Section: Community Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability of community engagement – in the hands of stakeholders?

Ramachandra

Mansor

2014

Education + Training

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“…Demonstrating effect at the level of citizen health or the local population and placing an economic value on those activities is even more knotty, while an additional problem is that long-term time scales are required for measuring both higher-level institutional outcomes and broader social/community outcomes (Bringle & Hatcher 2007). Also, there are no established conventions for determining quality in outreach and engagement, as there are for teaching and research (Bender 2008b). As a result, many university policy-makers are not aware of the extent of community engagement that occurs even within their own institutional domains (Bender 2008a).…”

Section: Community Engagement In South Africa: Overview Of the Literamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In developing tools for measuring community engagement activity, Bender (2008b) notes that South African universities are yet to adopt a clear-cut tool for capturing and evaluating the various community engagement partnerships in which they are engaged.…”

Section: Community Engagement In South Africa: Overview Of the Literamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With Hart and Northmore (2011: 50-52) prescribing seven critical dimensions for measuring community engagement within the UK context, and elaborate efforts made in standardising university-community engagement outputs in the US (Calleson et al 2005), Canada (Wenger, Hawkins & Seifer 2011) and Australia (Winter et al 2006), it becomes inevitable that South African HEIs would have to explore and establish tangible and sustainable benchmarks along the potential indicators canvassed by Bender (2008b), which broadly represent global benchmarking standards and best practices. Better still, South African HEIs could, in conjunction with the broad spectrum of government agencies and relevant stakeholders, adopt standard benchmarks for the evaluation of university-community engagement outputs beyond the mere mantra of formal commitment to community engagement initiatives.…”

Section: University-community Engagement In Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

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University–community engagement in South Africa: dilemmas in benchmarking

Olowu

2012

South African Review of Sociology

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The increasing value of community engagement activities in universities worldwide is yielding a rising emphasis on benchmarking university-community engagement. However, the emergence of effective benchmarks is still at an incipient stage. This article aims to provide some practical directions for developing a systematic approach to benchmarking university-community engagement within the South African milieu. The observation is made that comparative university experiences could provide useful insights into the challenges of evaluating university-community engagement in South Africa, and proposes what the responsive modalities could be. Extrapolating from such experiences and analysing the measurement tools in literature, this article examines the conceptual quandaries involved and proffers a typology of approaches to university-community engagement to highlight aspects that South African universities might want to address in benchmarking community engagement activities. A critique of the scenarios presented and the lessons learned provides the basis for the key questions South African universities may need to ask when determining appropriate benchmarking tools.

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“…Not only should this shape research and intervention, but it should inform pedagogy. Service learning is an action-centric approach to education that is translational in nature, mobilizing human and other resources to address community health needs (Bender, 2008). Community needs are not the only needs addressed however; students also benefit as they are able to apply skills developed in the classroom.…”

Section: Theoretical Basis For Public Health Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%