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A Profile of Higher Education in

The landscape of international higher education has been changing since the turn of the 21st century. The globalisation of our societies and economies implies a changing role of the higher education institutions. Accompanying the challenges associated with development, especially in developing countries, are initiatives championing regionalisation as a locus of development. This article positions the debate on the relationships among globalisation, regionalisation, and internationalisation in the context of Africa and its sub-continent, showing that, although these concepts have emerged at different times and contexts, they are still related. Using case studies of two regional political and economic organisations and their higher education counterparts, this article shows that regionalisation is not a new phenomenon but has been part of and has been used in the post-colonial era to serve new social, economic, political, and development purposes in the current period. Le monde de l’enseignement superieur n’a cesse de changer depuis le debut du XXI eme siecle. La mondialisation de nos societes et de nos economies a pour consequence une modification du role joue par les etablissements d’enseignement superieur. Les defis poses par cette evolution sont, en particulier dans les pays en voie de developpement, associes a des initiatives soutenant la regionalisation comme locus de developpement. Cet article centre le debat sur la relation entre la mondialisation, la regionalisation et l’internationalisation dans le contexte de l’Afrique et de son sous-continent, et demontre que, bien que ces concepts soient apparus a differentes epoques et dans des contextes varies, ils sont encore lies. Cet article s’appuie sur une etude de cas de deux organisations regionales politiques et economiques et de leurs equivalents dans le domaine de l’enseignement superieur pour montrer que le concept de regionalisation n’est pas un phenomene nouveau, mais qu’il a fait partie de et a ete utilise pendant l’epoque postcoloniale pour satisfaire de nouveaux objectifs sociaux, economiques, politiques et de developpement.

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The Regionalisation, Internationalisation, and Globalisation of African Higher Education

This article argues that the South African research community could benefit by engaging in more collaborative partnerships within the African continent in relation to community engagement. This argument relates to literature in South Africa concerning an Africanised notion of service learning (SL) and community engagement (CE), university contributions to sustainable development, and recent discussions which suggest that South Africa is ready to explore local solutions to local problems in Africa.
The article briefly introduces the global interest in universities and engagement, followed by a reflection on the historical context for African universities in this regard. The South African context is highlighted as a major player in advancing research and scholarship in relation to CE and SL. The article then refers to concerns within the South African research community that reflect the need for greater theorisation, a deepening of our understanding of how to Africanise an agenda, which has been, to a large extent, imported from the West, and how to address community perspectives and sustainable development in relation to CE and SL.
The article concludes that one way forward is to explore the potential for intra-continental collaborations and comparative studies in order to expand our understanding of some of the above issues. Some examples of initiatives, studies and publications from other African countries are cited to illustrate ways in which mutual learning might take place across the continent. Key themes from these studies include the use of multi-partner collaborations, networking, a focus on community relationships, interdisciplinary approaches to community-identified concerns, and the application and elaboration of context-specific indigenous knowledge. It is suggested that one of the strengths of country initiatives outside of South Africa is their focus on CE which informs SL, rather than the other way around. Conversely, South African theoretical and pedagogical perspectives on SL can contribute to a broader understanding of this aspect within higher education institutions on the continent.

Towards an Africanisation of Community Engagement and Service Learning.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the use of different community-based learning spaces and environments as a pedagogical resource for student learning through university community engagement. It draws on the findings from a recently completed community engagement and service learning action research project, where students responded to NGO community requests for assistance to work in small teams with grass roots communities. The methodology included initial consultations between NGO communities and the participating students, with follow-up observations and interviews with students, the NGOs and, where possible, their grass roots community participants. This paper reports on three case studies of the action research project and compares the student, NGO and community reflections of the community engagement experience. The findings suggest that the learning spaces and environments enabled students and community members to engage in mutual learning, through a dialogic and reflective process that enabled application of discipline-based theory, as well as broader learning, related to power dynamics and sharing of knowledge between community members and students. However, the engagement initiatives require considerable preparatory discussions and ongoing dialogue between the different agencies.

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The Pedagogic Contribution of Community Spaces and Environments in Service Learning Projects

This is a concept article which develops the argument posited by Mahlomaholo & Matobako (2006) in an earlier Alternation publication that university community engagement through service learning fails to impact on community change because insufficient attention is paid to genuine engagement (listening to the community; enhancing local resources, critiquing power relations, reciprocity). The article traces the evolutionary nature of the terms community service, community engagement and service learning, particularly over the last six years. It briefly reviews the focus of recent studies on this topic and highlights some current concerns in the community engagement and service learning literature with mutidisciplinarity, the production of knowledge and sustainable community engagement. It reflects on the paucity of literature which links service learning and community engagement with community development theories and concludes with recommendations for more multidisciplinary service learning initiatives which focus on community engagement that leads service learning rather than the other way round. In so doing the article draws attention to the advantages of framing community engagement within assetbased community development theory (Ferriera & Ebersohn 2012) and the concept of ‘adaptive leadership’ as discussed in a recent article by Stephenson (2011) from the US and offers a new concept of ‘adaptive engagement’. The article concludes by suggesting there is a need for more

Service Learning and Community Engagement in South African Universities: Towards an 'Adaptive Engagement' Approach

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Piyushi Kotecha

Papers

Engaging Universities in the Regional Integration Project in Southern Africa