IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v11y2021i2p21582440211011467.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Insights and Current Debates on Community Engagement in Higher Education Institutions: Perspectives on the University of the Western Cape

Author

Listed:
  • Fred Bidandi
  • Anthony Nforh Ambe
  • Claudia Haking Mukong

Abstract

This study investigated the insights and current debates on community engagement in higher education institutions with specific reference to the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in South Africa. The article argues that although community engagement seems to present some challenges, it has become an integral part of higher education in South Africa and beyond. The article examines community engagement in higher education institutions and evaluates its contributions based on the research question. The article evaluates community engagement from the perspective of the UWC, community, and students. Data were collected through semi-structured with key informants. In total, 12 participants participated in the interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The results of the study show that community engagement is dependent on institutions’ relationships built between particular communities, which are easily lost if the people involved change. The results also show that community engagement has become a requisite for promotion and policy development. However, it reveals that issues of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) often take time affecting students and researchers. Moreover, the findings indicate that there is no standard procedure for community engagement as departments, individual lecturers, and students have unique and different interests.

Suggested Citation

  • Fred Bidandi & Anthony Nforh Ambe & Claudia Haking Mukong, 2021. "Insights and Current Debates on Community Engagement in Higher Education Institutions: Perspectives on the University of the Western Cape," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:11:y:2021:i:2:p:21582440211011467
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440211011467
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440211011467
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440211011467?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mtawa, Ntimi N. & Fongwa, Samuel N. & Wangenge-Ouma, Gerald, 2016. "The scholarship of university-community engagement: Interrogating Boyer's model," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 126-133.
    2. Johnson, Michael P. & Midgley, Gerald & Chichirau, George, 2018. "Emerging trends and new frontiers in community operational research," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 268(3), pages 1178-1191.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Abdullah Almurayh & Saqib Saeed & Nahier Aldhafferi & Abdullah Alqahtani & Madeeha Saqib, 2022. "Sustainable Education Quality Improvement Using Academic Accreditation: Findings from a University in Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-17, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. McKenna, R. & Bertsch, V. & Mainzer, K. & Fichtner, W., 2018. "Combining local preferences with multi-criteria decision analysis and linear optimization to develop feasible energy concepts in small communities," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 268(3), pages 1092-1110.
    2. Ezbakhe, Fatine & Pérez-Foguet, Agustí, 2021. "Decision analysis for sustainable development: The case of renewable energy planning under uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 291(2), pages 601-613.
    3. Chatterji, Niti & Kiran, Ravi, 2017. "Role of human and relational capital of universities as underpinnings of a knowledge economy: A structural modelling perspective from north Indian universities," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 52-61.
    4. Lovely S. Mores & Jeongwoo Lee & Woongkyoo Bae, 2019. "University-Community Partnerships: A Local Planning Co-Production Study on Calabarzon, Philippines," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-16, March.
    5. Walsh, Mike & Kittler, Markus G. & Throp, Maria & Shaw, Fraser, 2019. "Designing a recovery-orientated system of care: A community operational research perspective," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 272(2), pages 595-607.
    6. Gomes, Sharlene L. & Hermans, Leon M. & Thissen, Wil A.H., 2018. "Extending community operational research to address institutional aspects of societal problems: Experiences from peri-urban Bangladesh," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 268(3), pages 904-917.
    7. Meinard, Y. & Cailloux, O., 2020. "On justifying the norms underlying decision support," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 285(3), pages 1002-1010.
    8. Konsti-Laakso, Suvi & Rantala, Tero, 2018. "Managing community engagement: A process model for urban planning," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 268(3), pages 1040-1049.
    9. Foote, J. & Midgley, G. & Ahuriri-Driscoll, A. & Hepi, M. & Earl-Goulet, J., 2021. "Systemic evaluation of community environmental management programmes," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 288(1), pages 207-224.
    10. Păunescu Carmen & Drăgan Denisa & Găucă Oana, 2017. "Examining obligations to society for QS Stars best ranked universities in social responsibility," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 12(4), pages 551-570, December.
    11. Yearworth, Mike & White, Leroy, 2018. "Spontaneous emergence of Community OR: Self-initiating, self-organising problem structuring mediated by social media," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 268(3), pages 809-824.
    12. Thorsen, Andreas & McGarvey, Ronald G., 2018. "Efficient frontiers in a frontier state: Viability of mobile dentistry services in rural areas," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 268(3), pages 1062-1076.
    13. Tayo Fabusuyi & Michael P Johnson, 2022. "Enhancing the quality and social impacts of urban planning through community-engaged operations research," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 49(4), pages 1167-1183, May.
    14. Ufua, Daniel E. & Papadopoulos, Thanos & Midgley, Gerald, 2018. "Systemic Lean Intervention: Enhancing Lean with Community Operational Research," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 268(3), pages 1134-1148.
    15. Symaco, Lorraine Pe & Tee, Meng Yew, 2019. "Social responsibility and engagement in higher education: Case of the ASEAN," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 184-192.
    16. Păunescu Carmen & Găucă Oana & Drăgan Gilmeanu Denisa, 2017. "Managing obligations to society. Case of best ranked universities in social responsibility," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 11(1), pages 818-825, July.
    17. Dastgoshade, Sohaib & Shafiee, Mohammad & Klibi, Walid & Shishebori, Davood, 2022. "Social equity-based distribution networks design for the COVID-19 vaccine," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    18. Helfgott, Ariella & Midgley, Gerald & Chaudhury, Abrar & Vervoort, Joost & Sova, Chase & Ryan, Alex, 2023. "Multi-level participation in integrative, systemic planning: The case of climate adaptation in Ghana," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 309(3), pages 1201-1217.
    19. Herron, Rebecca & Mendiwelso-Bendek, Zoraida, 2018. "Supporting self-organised community research through informal learning," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 268(3), pages 825-835.
    20. Aubert, Alice H. & Schmid, Sara & Lienert, Judit, 2024. "Can online interfaces enhance learning for public decision-making? Eliciting citizens’ preferences for multicriteria decision analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 314(2), pages 760-775.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:11:y:2021:i:2:p:21582440211011467. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.