Insights and current debates on community engagement in higher education institutions: Perspectives on the University of the Western Cape
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Date
2021Author
Bidandi, Fred
Ambe, Anthony Nforh
Mukong, Claudia Haking
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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.