文档介绍：Mainstreaming Social Engagement in Higher Education:
Benefits, challenges, and esses
Presentation to
Colloquium on Research and Higher Education Policy:
'Knowledge, Access and Governance: Strategies for Change'
1-3 December 2004, UNESCO, Paris
by
Peter Boothroyd, Professor
Centre for Human Settlements, University of British Columbia
and
Dr. Margo Fryer, Director
Learning Exchange, University of British Columbia
ABSTRACT
Contributing directly to national and local development is seen as a core mission of higher education institutions throughout the world. This mission may be referred to as "community service" or by some other term. Whatever the terminology, many universities, and the societies that support them, recognize that providing long-term benefits to society through detached teaching and research, though of undeniable and fundamental importance, is an insufficient intellectual response to pressing social needs. If we are not to be overwhelmed in the short term plex, deep-seated problems caused by, and reflected in, poverty, exclusion, injustice, and environmental destruction, then universities must e directly engaged with civil society and government in finding and applying solutions.
Institutions of higher education have much to learn from each other about social engagement benefits, challenges and essful strategies. Many different approaches munity service are being taken, and to some degree universities are documenting and reflecting on their experiences. For example, in recent years: “community service-learning" has been receiving increasing attention by North American institutions, such as the University of British Columbia; with funding from the Canadian International Development Agency, Vietnamese and Canadian universities have experimented in building their capacity to collaborate with local agencies in reducing poverty; and, universities in Thailand have joined national government programs to support students as they assist, and