This reparative orientation asks universities to confront colonial and apartheid legacies, acknowledge complicities, and imagine futures grounded in accountability, reciprocity, and healing. For
Dr Karen Venter, Head of Service Learning in the Directorate of Community Engagement, the emphasis on Ubuntu was particularly powerful. “Engagement must be grounded in Ubuntu – relationality, dignity, and interdependence. The focus is on mutuality and co‑creation of knowledge, rather than knowledge transfer,” explained Dr Venter.
Reparative justice, race reconstruction, and Ubuntu‑informed teaching
The UFS contingent made a significant impact, with contributions including papers and posters. Presenters included Dr Samuel Fongwa, Research Fellow in the Research Group on Higher Education and Human Development; Dr Gernus Terblanche, researcher, virologist, and community engagement facilitator (ACCESS); Dr Venter; Dr Rosaline Sebolao, Deputy Director in the Office of the Dean of the Faculty of The Humanities; Dr Gcina Mtengwane, Lecturer in the UFS Community Development Programme and the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies, Prof Grey Magaiza (Associate Professor); Dr Kanya Padayachee (Research Fellow); Choene Mabitsela, Nthatisi Nkoebele, and Dr Jerit Dube (lecturers); Dr Moorosi Leshoele (Senior Lecturer); and Siphamandla Mncwango (facilitator).
Dr Sebolao presented a paper titled, Cultivating Change: The Humanities Students’ Journey into Entrepreneurial Mindset through Community Engagement. She looked at how community‑engaged learning empowers Humanities students to develop entrepreneurial mindsets, integrating theory and practice to build transferable skills, civic responsibility, and socially responsive approaches to real‑world challenges.
Prof Magaiza and Margie Maistry from Rhodes University presented on Reparative Pedagogies: Community Engagement and the Social Reconstruction of Race, in which they focused on how universities can use community engagement to break down harmful ideas about race and challenge racism in everyday academic and social spaces, creating opportunities for dialogue, human connection, and more just ways of learning and living together. They recommended that universities must inculcate reparative pedagogies to confront past, present, and future injustices.
Mabitsela, together with Constance Matshidiso and Muleya Emmison from the University of Johannesburg, presented on how work‑integrated learning can go beyond employability by directly involving communities, highlighting the importance of supervision, capacity building, and support to ensure that students develop both professional skills and a strong sense of social responsibility. Their paper was titled Preparing for Ethical and Socially Responsible Community Development Practice through Work-Integrated Learning.
Nkoebele’s paper was titled, Co-creating Student-Community Collaborations: Community Development Praxis through the Lens of Ubudlelane at a South African University. She explored how the African philosophy of ubudlelane can shape teaching and learning by encouraging reciprocal, accountable, and context‑aware community engagement, showing students how to build meaningful partnerships that benefit both universities and local communities.
With the paper, Endogenous Development in Africa: Lessons from Burkina Faso and Rwanda’s Community Development Girinka Programme, Dr Leshoele looked at how African countries can move beyond failed Western‑style development models by drawing on indigenous and home-grown strategies, using examples such as Rwanda’s ‘one cow one poor family’ programme and Thomas Sankara’s policies in Burkina Faso to show how locally rooted approaches can drive real social and economic change.
Mncwango presented a paper titled, Drivers and Constraints of Engaged Scholarship in Higher Education. The paper focused on how engaged scholarship can strengthen the relationship between universities and communities by promoting collaboration, trust, and social change, while also pointing out challenges such as limited funding and barriers to inclusive participation.
Dr Dube delivered a paper titled, Co-production of Knowledge through Engaged Research Practices in Qwaqwa. The paper focused on how universities and local communities can work together to co‑create knowledge in ways that challenge old hierarchies, promote fairness, and build more human‑centred, socially responsive approaches to research and development.
Dr Mtengwane’s paper looked at how young people in South Africa’s former homelands, especially Qwaqwa, rely on community‑based organisations for skills, support, and opportunities when government programmes fall short, showing the vital role these groups play in youth development. The paper was titled, Community-Based Organisations as former Homeland Youth Agency through the Lens of the African Philosophy of Ubudlelane.
Their work spanned reparative justice, race reconstruction, Ubuntu‑informed pedagogy, and innovative co‑curricular engagement models. Bishop Ramahlele commented: “Our contributions bridged theory and practice, advanced reparative and decolonial frameworks, strengthened student‑centred engagement, contributed to African epistemologies and methodological innovation. We positioned ourselves as leaders in applied, socially responsive engaged scholarship.”
Several presentations also resonated strongly with the UFS’ commitment to responsible societal futures. This included Drs Terblanche and Venter’s paper, titled Bridging Theory and Practice: Co-curricular Student Engagement for Reparative Futures in Higher Education. They explored how co‑curricular student engagement can bridge the gap between policy and practice in higher education. Using the UFS ACCESS programme as a case study, they highlighted participatory approaches that cultivate socially responsive graduates and establish reparative futures through community‑based collaboration.
Another presentation from the UFS that strongly aligns with responsible societal futures was that of Dr Padayachee, titled Reparative Futures for the Cultivation of Humanity: Integral Education for Early Childhood Development Practitioner Pedagogy. It argues that the systematic under-education of educators and lack of basic teacher training have resulted in the general incapacity and poor quality of the ECD workforce in South Africa. In addition, this training aligns with a mainstream Western educational paradigm that merely reproduces society. Conversely, integral education for reparative futures is a transformative approach to teaching and learning that seeks to address, redress, and move beyond historical and continuing structural injustices to build more equitable and just societies.
Dr Fongwa also advanced this vision through his presentation, Exploring university community engagement as reparative justice. He examined the role of African universities as anchor institutions in advancing reparative justice through community engagement, highlighting how they can restore social, cultural, and economic values while addressing historical inequities and fostering inclusive regional development.
Students as co‑researchers, community partners, and change agents
The conference also highlighted the evolving role of students. Dr Venter noted: “Students are increasingly positioned as co‑researchers, community partners, and change agents. Engagement enhances ethical agency, critical consciousness, and civic responsibility.” This shift is moving away from transactional models of service towards dialogic, participatory partnerships that value student voices and community knowledge equally.
One of the students who attended, Hope Mochesane – CSRC Social Impact on the Qwaqwa Campus – commented that she felt inspired, reflective, and motivated. “The final day allowed me to connect many of the ideas shared throughout the conference and think more critically about the role that students and institutions can play in creating reparative and transformative futures.”
The participation of student leaders, including members of the SRC, added depth to the discussions. Bishop Ramahlele observed: “Students reframed engagement as being with communities, not helping them. Their contributions emphasised student citizenship, ethical leadership, and participatory governance.” This ensured that conversations remained grounded in lived realities and power dynamics, reinforcing the importance of solidarity over service.
Knowledge for Change (K4C), a global initiative under the UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, also featured prominently. Dr Venter explained: “K4C promotes epistemic justice and the co‑creation of knowledge. Furthermore, it promoted universities as part of a learning ecosystem. For the University of the Free State, it strengthens our positioning within global engaged scholarship networks and reinforces participatory research as a methodology for engaged scholarship.”
The South African K4C North Hub, based in the UFS Directorate of Community Engagement, connects local projects to global networks, enabling knowledge democracy and exchange across geographies.
Moodi Matsoso from the Directorate of Community Engagement on the Qwaqwa Campus attended the conference, reflecting on the importance of empathy and reciprocity in engagement work. After attending the session of Marie Sutherland on Dialogic Attunement: Empathy as a tool for Building Reciprocal Community Academic Partnerships, Matsoso noted, “Empathy plays a key role when engaging with any community. It allows one to search deeper into the pressing needs of the community alongside them, without speculating and without their voices being excluded. It also encourages reciprocity.”
Dr Bawinile Mthanti, Manager: Societal Impact in the Directorate of Community Engagement, also attended the conference. She described the conference as an important learning experience after joining the directorate earlier this year. “The workshop strengthened my understanding of the importance of universities working collaboratively with the communities they serve, rather than operating in isolation,” she said. She added that the keynote presentations offered valuable insights into the evolving role of community engagement within higher education.
The conference reinforced the University of the Free State’s profile both nationally and internationally. Dr Karen Venter reflected that, on a global scale, the gathering affirmed the university’s progress in moving beyond rhetoric to practice, advancing student‑centred and community‑driven engagement, contributing to global debates on reparative universities, and strengthening its role in building just, humane, and sustainable societies.
The International Community Engagement Conference was a call to action. By embracing reparative futures grounded in Ubuntu and community knowledge, universities can cultivate humanity in ways that extend beyond economic instrumentalism. For the University of the Free State, the message was clear: responsible societal futures depend on authentic, reparative, and humanising engagement.