Putting the horse before the cart: policy research, partnerships and community service

As a result of the way in which community service (CS) partnerships are structured, these partnerships may be dominated by universities, which in some cases become too involved in the operational side of addressing   community needs. This article briefly assesses community service learning, action...

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Main Authors: Lochner Marais, Lucius Botes
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of the Free State 2005-01-01
Series:Acta Academica
Online Access:https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/aa/article/view/1072
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author Lochner Marais
Lucius Botes
author_facet Lochner Marais
Lucius Botes
author_sort Lochner Marais
collection DOAJ
description As a result of the way in which community service (CS) partnerships are structured, these partnerships may be dominated by universities, which in some cases become too involved in the operational side of addressing   community needs. This article briefly assesses community service learning, action research and CS partnerships. The two research partnerships of the Centre for Development Support are then described and lessons from these case studies are identified. The main lesson is that CS partnerships should be reassessed. It is proposed that a university does not have to be directly involved, as an implementation agency, in order to address the socio-economic realities of our society. The possibility of linking such partnerships with accredited student learning is pointed out, along with the importance of conducting research that is relevant to the socio-economic realities in South Africa, and the fact that CS and the entrepreneurial route are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
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spelling doaj.art-3577c22897e943f29337af9e17e3031c2024-03-07T11:13:34ZengUniversity of the Free StateActa Academica0587-24052415-04792005-01-013Putting the horse before the cart: policy research, partnerships and community serviceLochner Marais0Lucius Botes1University of the Free StateUniversity of the Free State As a result of the way in which community service (CS) partnerships are structured, these partnerships may be dominated by universities, which in some cases become too involved in the operational side of addressing   community needs. This article briefly assesses community service learning, action research and CS partnerships. The two research partnerships of the Centre for Development Support are then described and lessons from these case studies are identified. The main lesson is that CS partnerships should be reassessed. It is proposed that a university does not have to be directly involved, as an implementation agency, in order to address the socio-economic realities of our society. The possibility of linking such partnerships with accredited student learning is pointed out, along with the importance of conducting research that is relevant to the socio-economic realities in South Africa, and the fact that CS and the entrepreneurial route are not necessarily mutually exclusive. https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/aa/article/view/1072
spellingShingle Lochner Marais
Lucius Botes
Putting the horse before the cart: policy research, partnerships and community service
Acta Academica
title Putting the horse before the cart: policy research, partnerships and community service
title_full Putting the horse before the cart: policy research, partnerships and community service
title_fullStr Putting the horse before the cart: policy research, partnerships and community service
title_full_unstemmed Putting the horse before the cart: policy research, partnerships and community service
title_short Putting the horse before the cart: policy research, partnerships and community service
title_sort putting the horse before the cart policy research partnerships and community service
url https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/aa/article/view/1072
work_keys_str_mv AT lochnermarais puttingthehorsebeforethecartpolicyresearchpartnershipsandcommunityservice
AT luciusbotes puttingthehorsebeforethecartpolicyresearchpartnershipsandcommunityservice