- Title
- Consensus and contentions around community engagement in a South African tertiary institution: University of Fort Hare
- Creator
- Mudefi, Elmon
- Subject
- Community and college -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- Administration
- Subject
- Education, Higher -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Date
- 2011
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- M Soc Sc (Rural Development)
- Identifier
- vital:11954
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/311
- Identifier
- Community and college -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Identifier
- Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Identifier
- Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- Administration
- Identifier
- Education, Higher -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description
- This study examines the nature and character of consensus and contentions around the discourse of community engagement in a South African university context. This is against the background of the growing body of literature that advocates for the need for universities to make their impact felt in communities in more direct ways than through teaching and research. The examination is also against the background of the assumption that the success or failure of community engagement initiatives is, in part, a function of how stakeholders agree/disagree on the meaning and purpose of community engagement. The University of Fort Hare is used as a case study. Interviews and Focus Group Discussions were used for qualitative data collection, whilst a survey was conducted for gathering quantitative data. The study revealed that stakeholders attach different meanings to community engagement, with those possessing power and influence acting as key decision makers. Thus powerful stakeholders (in this case, the university and donor organizations) are at the core of the decision making process, while beneficiaries are pushed to the periphery. Moreover, both the meanings and the activities within which they cohere have important implications for the way beneficiary communities perceive university-community partnerships.
- Format
- xi, 117 leaves; 30 cm
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
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UFH Department of Sociology and Anthropology
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