View infographic here
At the University of the Free State (UFS), engaged scholarship activities are guided by the vision of being a research-led, student-centred, and regionally relevant university, focused on development and social justice.
For enactment of this vision, the UFS invests physical resources and funding, as well as staff and student hours to contribute to nation building.
Demonstrating the heart of strategic partnerships
Engaged scholarship demonstrates the heart of strategic partnerships, where agreements are grounded in shared goals, designed and agreed upon in unity for socio-economic renewal to improve people’s living conditions, contributing to societal well-being. It links the best of the research and teaching skills of staff and students to specific needs of the community, including civil society, the private sector, government, non-governmental organisations, and enterprises.
Democratic knowledge co-creation emerges from engaged learning and teaching, engaged research, and engaged citizenship through interaction between the institution, its staff and students, and the community.
The curriculum, engaged research efforts, engaged learning and teaching, and graduate attributes are all enriched through collaborative and reciprocal learning activities. As illustrated in the infographic, the input from engaged activities delivered by the UFS resulted in 285 engaged-activity outputs, of which the majority constituted engaged citizenship, followed by engaged research, and then engaged learning and teaching.
Deep understanding of socio-economic and environmental challenges
Our students participate in community-engaged service-learning, leading to knowledge acquisition and a deep understanding of socio-economic and environmental challenges in mutual solidarity with the community. Service-learning also gives rise to the acceptance and understanding of diverse cultures and races and advances the ability to interact meaningfully with diverse people from different backgrounds.
Community-engaged learning increases awareness of own biases and stereotypes along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies. By transcending their own comfort zones, combined with collaborative learning with diverse groups, students can gain greater appreciation of the strengths and capacities of diverse groups in the community.
The UFS invests physical resources and funding, as well as staff and student hours to contribute to nation building. – Karen Venter
Engaged scholarship also embraces the inculcation of citizenship and the social responsibility of the UFS to society by giving effect to one of the key ‘public good’ dimensions of the UFS.