Over the past 20 years, South African higher education institutions have been engaged with the meaning, nature and experience of Community Engagement (CE). As the South African Higher Education Community Engagement Forum (SAHECEF) approaches its 10th anniversary, SAHECEF is interested in reflecting upon the experience or implementation of CE in South African higher education institutions and the lessons that can be drawn from this experiences, practice and praxis in informing the future development of Community Engagement.
The roundtable discussion will include members of SAHECEF who are involved in Community Engagement Directorates at a number of South African Universities. The purpose of the round table will be to:
1. Share institutional experiences of CE;
2. Critically engage with strategies that are effective in ensuring the implementation of CE; and
3. Inform the role SAHECEF can play at institutional level and within the Higher Education system in South Africa into the future.
SAHECEF is mindful of the changed context of Higher Education, the debates centred on the Decolonisation of South African Higher Education, poverty and inequality and accessibility and so acknowledge that the roundtable conversation has to be grounded in our current realities. It has to address questions pertaining to making the case for the relevance of Community Engagement and reflection on whether student struggles have taken debates in a different direction away from Community Engagement and Transformation or whether these debates create a moment for the renewal of Community Engagement in Socio-Economic, Political and Cultural development.
Speakers: Dr Bernadette Johnson (Vaal University of Technology & Chairperson of SAHECEF, South African Higher Education Community Engagement Forum) in dialogue with SAHECEF members Mr Sonwabo Ngcelwane (University of Cape Town), Mrs Jeeva Munsamy (Cape Peninsula University of Technology), Ms Karen Venter (University of Free State), Ms Bibi Bouwman and Dr Henri Coetzee (North West University), Ms Bronwyn Dugtig (Monash), Ms Jacqueline Scheepers (Cape Peninsula University of Technology), Ms Diana Hornby and Dr Sharli Paphitis (Rhodes University), Dr Antoinette Smith-Tolken (Stellenbosch university)