A socially responsive university
The lens of decolonisation invites the opportunity to reflect on the current mainstream views regarding the purpose of the public university. A decolonized approach suggests that the key tasks of a university (teaching, research and community engagement) should be socially responsive. This conceptu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Johannesburg
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Communicare |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1551 |
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| Summary: | The lens of decolonisation invites the opportunity to reflect on the current mainstream views
regarding the purpose of the public university. A decolonized approach suggests that the key
tasks of a university (teaching, research and community engagement) should be socially
responsive. This conceptual article draws on a class project to suggest a way in which the three
tasks can be combined to respond so a particular social need. Against the foil of a class project -
situated in a larger Izindaba Zokudla (conversations about food) community engagement project
of the University of Johannesburg – this article argues: 1) instead of conventional teaching
methods, teaching should be based on an empowerment education model; 2) instead of a
top-down externally initiated model, community engagement should use a participatory multistakeholder
approach; and 3) instead of conventional research approaches, research should be
transformative. The article concludes, firstly that it is possible to integrate the teaching, research
and community engagement tasks of a public university productively, and secondly, it should
take as point of departure empowerment education, participatory community engagement, and
transformative research.
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| ISSN: | 0259-0069 2957-7950 |