Institutional Commitment to Community Engagement: A Case Study of Makerere University

Abstract

Although the earliest medieval universities began as teaching-only institutions, the university as an institution has since experienced revolutions in the way its functions are conceived. Currently, the university embraces three functions: teaching, research and community engagement. Although the teaching and research functions of the university are much more established than its third function, the importance of community engagement is acknowledged in the academic literature and, to varying degrees, by governments, higher education agencies and universities. For example, a review of the mission statements of Ugandan universities shows that, besides teaching and research, the universities aspire to contribute to the socio-economic transformation of society. Unfortunately, such assertions reveal little about the actual commitment of the universities to community engagement because there is a dearth of literature about community engagement at African universities. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to examine the institutional commitment of Ugandan universities to community engagement. However, the discussion will focus on a single university, Makerere University. Data was generated through document reviews and qualitative semi-structured interviews. The review shows that the university (1) recognises community engagement as one of its core functions; (2) has integrated some aspects of community engagement into its curriculum and policies; and (3) has organisational structures and personnel to organise and provide community related activities and services. Nonetheless, community related activities remain largely unsupported and the contributions of the faculty to community engagement are insufficiently rewarded.

Assessing higher education institutional stakeholders' perceptions and needs for community engagement: An empirical evidence from Uganda

“…(2012) observe that, through CE, HEIs can play fundamental roles in empowering stakeholders and communities to outline pathways toward upward mobility. For this reason, governments and politicians since the mid-20 th century encouraged HEIs to halt detaching themselves from outside entities, instead serve as critical instruments in tackling the challenges typically facing societies and local communities ( Franklin, 2009 ; Goddard et al., 2016 ; Mugabi, 2015 ; Pinheiro and Langa, 2015 ). Research has shown that CE is a tremendous bridge between academic institutions, stakeholders, and the general community ( Olowu, 2012 ).…”

Community engagement in the Faculty of Health Science: A concept analysis

“…Community engagement as a scholarly activity helps to prepare the academic staff for their teaching roles through advancement of knowledge and skills in their field to guide the students. This is because the community engagement process also involves consultancy, continuing education and collaborative research in which the academic staff may also participate, not only the students (Mugabi 2015 :193). In addition, there is an opportunity for enquiry-based learning in community engagement, whereby the academic staff and students may conduct fieldwork for further exploration of aspects of their field of study (Miller 2013 :47).…”

Emerging University-Society Engagements in Africa

“…As such, African nations are embracing the discourse of the knowledge economy and seeking to revitalize their HE systems (Molla & Cuthbert, 2016), with university functions presumed to be progressing from teaching to research, and eventually to community service. Empirical studies on this topic are yet to gain momentum but some studies (Cloete & Maaseen, 2015;Mugabi, 2015;Ofoyuru, 2018;Ogunsanya, Olajumoke, & Govender, 2019, Schalkwyk, 2015 seem to reveal somewhat marginal and fragile situation of university-society engagements in Africa budding in all the three core functions of the university: teaching, research and direct service. Moreover, much of the emphasis still seems to be on teaching and learning (Cloete & Maassen, 2015;Mugabi, 2014;Ogunsanya, Olajumoke, & Govender, 2019).…”

“…Moreover, much of the emphasis still seems to be on teaching and learning (Cloete & Maassen, 2015;Mugabi, 2014;Ogunsanya, Olajumoke, & Govender, 2019). However, these engagement studies are either case studies (Mugabi, 2015;Ofoyuru 2018) or comparative studies of eight universities from Southern and Eastern Africa only (Cloete & Maaseen, 2015;Schalkwyk, 2015). This limits our understanding of the modalities and extents of university-society engagements across African regions.…”