Join us using this link:
https://zoom.us/j/6726693658
Meeting ID: 672 669 3658
Passcode: PUAT2021
The purpose of this webinar is to stimulate discussion on the interdependent relationship between Community Engagement (CE) and teaching and learning in relation to the SDGs, as well as key elements of institutional and national development plans.
The democratic government in South Africa, post-1994, envisioned a transformed higher education sector where universities would contribute to the social and economic development of communities (especially those which were historically disadvantaged) and prepare students to be socially and civically responsible. CE was introduced as a core function of higher education for this purpose. Together with teaching and learning and research, CE contributes to the developmental role of higher education institutions in South Africa.
The Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) (2004) defines Community Engagement as:
initiatives and processes through which the expertise of the higher education institution in the areas of teaching and learning and research are applied to address issues relevant to its community. Community Engagement typically finds expression in a variety of forms, ranging from informal and relatively unstructured activities to formal and structured academic programmes addressed at particular community needs (service learning programmes (p. 26).
Rhodes University Community Engagement (RUCE) Division was established in 2008 and has over the years built collaborative community-university partnerships guided by relevant theoretical and philosophical frameworks, values and principles. The co-generation of knowledge between community partners and RUCE, the ecosystems theoretical perspective and the philosophy of Ubuntu have guided RUCE in the development of a framework for CE that incorporates the Rhodes University Institutional Development Plan, National Development Plan and the SDGs. The framework demonstrates the interdependent relationship between the institution, local communities, broader society and the global community; between teaching, learning, research and community engagement; between the rational, emotional and spiritual fields of knowledge and between the social, economic, cultural and other dimensions of communities.
The webinar will examine how CE makes it possible for Rhodes University to live its values of sustainability, simultaneous local responsiveness and global engagement, social justice and advancing the public good.