Conference Agenda

In an era of democratic backsliding, polarization, and declining civic trust, higher education is increasingly called upon to cultivate not only disciplinary knowledge but also the competences necessary for democratic culture. While service-learning is widely recognized as a high-impact practice that fosters civic responsibility, critical thinking, and social awareness, its implementation often remains fragmented and dependent on individual faculty rather than embedded within institutional strategy.

This paper examines how service-learning can evolve from isolated pedagogical practices into an integrated form of democratic infrastructure. Drawing on a 20-year case study of the Center for Public Service at Tulane University, it presents an ecosystem model aligning various modes of community-engaged learning with institutional commitments to civic and democratic education. Each year, CPS supports over one hundred service-learning course sections and engages thousands of undergraduate students, creating a sustained platform for civic development.

The CPS model demonstrates how democratic competences such as civic agency, dialogue across difference, ethical reasoning, and collaborative problem-solving can be intentionally cultivated through multi-layered institutional design. Service-learning is embedded within general education requirements, ensuring access across disciplines. Structured leadership pathways, including Service-Learning Assistants, Community Engagement Advocates, and Civic Engagement Fellows, extend learning through peer facilitation, reflection, and dialogue. Complementary initiatives, including dialogue programs and debate fellowships, further strengthen students’ capacities for democratic participation. These efforts are grounded in long-term, reciprocal community partnerships and emphasize asset-based, co-creative approaches.

The paper also examines barriers to institutionalization, including disciplinary silos, misaligned faculty incentives, limited assessment tools for democratic competences, and tensions between transactional and transformational engagement. In response, it proposes an ecosystem framework that aligns mission, structures, incentives, and pedagogy, positioning service-learning as a core mechanism for advancing universities’ civic purpose.

For academics and practitioners, the presentation offers transferable takeaways: a framework for scaling service-learning into institution-wide civic education; strategies for embedding democratic competences across disciplines; models for developing student leadership pathways; approaches to building reciprocal community partnerships; and methods for addressing institutional resistance.

The paper also speaks to European contexts, demonstrating how service-learning can support inclusive participation, civic learning, and institutional transformation. By reframing service-learning as democratic infrastructure, it advances a vision of higher education as a co-creator of more participatory and resilient democratic societies.