Conference Agenda
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III. Session 3 · Track B: University–Community Partnerships and Societal Engagement Location: F21/02.41 | |
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Embedding Engaged Education: Institutionalising Community Service-Learning for Complex Societal Issues through Transition Initiatives Vrije Universiteit, Netherlands, The This presentation draws on my doctoral dissertation “Embedding Engaged Education: Creating Knowledge Together”, which investigates how Community Service Learning (CSL) can be structurally embedded within higher education institutions to strengthen democracy education and the “Third Mission” of universities (Tijsma et al., 2024). CSL is understood as an educational approach in which students, faculty, and community partners collaboratively address societal issues through applied learning, sustained reflection, and co-creation of knowledge. The study addresses the central question: how can engaged education be institutionalised within universities to contribute effectively to complex societal challenges? Using a qualitative research design, data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus groups with students, teachers, and community partners engaged in CSL initiatives at a European university. The data were analysed thematically to identify structural conditions, tensions, and enabling mechanisms for institutionalisation. Findings reveal a persistent tension between institutional efficiency logics (e.g., scalability, standardisation, and student throughput) and the open-ended, relational nature of engaged education. Faculty often experience CSL as “working against the system,” particularly when institutional structures do not accommodate flexibility, long-term collaboration, and community responsiveness. At the same time, participants emphasise the transformative potential of CSL when community voices are central and sustained engagement is supported. Two guiding principles for institutionalisation emerged: 1) continuous faculty, community and student involvement and 2) flexibility and continuity of engaged education activities. Building on these principles, the dissertation proposes two institutional approaches: a thematic, cross-programme model clustering courses around societal challenges, and an inter- and transdisciplinary elective master module enabling sustained co-creation with communities across disciplinary boundaries. These approaches function as “transition initiatives” that connect fragmented courses and actors while bridging individual teaching practices and organisational structures. They offer concrete pathways for embedding democratic and community-engaged education within universities, thereby strengthening institutional capacity for civic responsibility. This work contributes to ongoing debates on the institutionalisation of service-learning and democracy education by offering empirically grounded and practice-oriented strategies for sustainable integration within higher education systems. This contribution directly addresses the track on Service-learning institutionalization in higher education, focusing on structural conditions, policy mechanisms, and organisational strategies for embedding democracy education and service-learning as a core institutional practice. Ref: | |