​Stellenbosch University (SU) collaborated with the University Nicosia, University of Indianapolis and Indiana Campus Compact to present the 8th International Symposium on Service-Learning (ISSL 2021-22) virtually on 11 June 2021.

The theme for the symposium was Critical Service-Learning Across the Globe: Transforming Teaching into Social Action and the purpose was to focus on transitions in higher education and the role that critical service-learning plays in social transformation.

Prof Wim de Villiers, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of SU, described how service-learning has been part of the learning and teaching strategy at SU for at least 16 years.

“Together with other experiential and activity-based pedagogies, it has played an important role in preparing our students for the world of work. The impact that service-learning can have on communities as well as individuals who participate in service-learning courses, develops students as critical citizens who will become change agents and future leaders," said Prof De Villiers.

At SU, social impact and transformation are fully integrated in the main functions of learning and teaching as well as research and innovation, and the University considers its responsibility as key towards corporate citizenship.

The symposium offered a wide selection of engagements to meet individual (registrants) interests.

Director for Social Impact, Ms Ernestine Meyer-Adams (ISSL 2021-22, 1st Co-Chair for SU and Chair of Service Learning at SU) ​, along with 11 academics from various faculties at SU featured at the symposium and included special video productions to showcase academics efforts and experiences, namely The Institutionalisation of Service-Learning at SU: From Community Interaction to Social Impact – Part A and later in the programme, The Institutionalisation of Service-Learning at SU: Ukwanda Centre for Rural Health – Part B.

Ms Meyer-Adams provided an overview of the current context of social impact through engaged scholarship and how the scholarship of engagement framed the policy context for advancing social impact through engaged learning and teaching, engaged research and innovation and engaged citizenship at SU.

She highlighted how focusing on social impact alongside a set of core institutional values through the transformation agenda informs institutional change and transformation to be more inclusive, open and responsive to the challenges of society. This is achieved through the promotion of authentic collaborations between the state, private sector, civil society, and university. In this context, where relations are forged and cultivated and the adoption of pedagogies are reciprocal, knowledge is produced to address critical societal challenges.

Mr Jacob du Plessis (ISSL 2021-22, 2nd Co-Chair for SU), lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, provided an institutional and national context of how SU positioned service-learning as a mechanism and catalyst in shaping the process of institutionalisation of engaged scholarship. He provided a historical narrative and shift of orientation, including the impact of legislative changes in higher education.

SU academic voices featured included: Prof Henry Mbaya – Department of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology, Faculty of Theology; Dr Lesley Welman – Department of Geoscience, Faculty of Military Science; Dr Zelda Barends and Ms Agatha Lebethe – Department of Curriculum Studies, Faculty of Education; Ms Pamela Kierman and Ms Felicia Lesch – Department of Music, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; Dr Rehana Malgas-Enus – Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science, Faculty of Science; Dr Annelin Molotsi – Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of AgriSciences; Ms Lindsay-Michelle Meyer and Ms Jana Müller – Department of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

​Resources from the symposium will be made available soon and will be accessible through the Social Impact Knowledge Platform.