Perold and Omar Communityty Service Concept Paper

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Community Service in

Higher Education
A concept paper

Helene Perold and Rahmat Omar

Produced and published by the Joint


Education Trust

September 1997
CONTENTS

Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. 1

Executive summary ................................................................................................................. 3

l. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 13

2. Community service in higher education:

An analysis of South African community service case studies ............................ 21

3. A survey of service programmes in nine countries .................................................49

4. South African practice in comparison with international experience ..................69

5. National service in South Africa:

From past experience to current proposals ...............................................................79

6. Community service and the challenges facing higher education.............................. 85

7. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 99

Appendix

Community service programmes surveyed in the course of research............ 107


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We gratefully acknowledge the significant contributions made by:


Ford Foundation which funded the project.

Helene Perold and Rahmat Omar who wrote the report.

The following assisted in conceptualising the report:


Mr Danie Brand
Prof Ian Bunting
Prof Christopher Cresswell
Prof Donald Ekong
Dr Steven Gelb
Prof Hu Hanrahan
Ms Nadia Hartman
Ms Nomfanyelo Kota
Ms Marie-Anna Marais
Mr Basil May
Dr Ian Macun
Mr Martin Mulcahy
Mr Sam Negota
Dr Phumele Ntombela-Nzimande
Mr Shakiel Orie
Prof Eleanor Preston-Whyte
Prof Medard Rwelamira
Dr Stuart Saunders

The research for this project was carried out by:


Ms Monica Bot
Ms Lauren Dutton
Mr Jared Genser
Mr Godwin Khosa
Ms Nazeema Mohamed
Ms Thandiwe McLean
Mr Vukile Nkabinde
Mrs Joyce Siwani
Ms Penny Vinjevold
Special thanks go to the following people for providing conceptual
guidance during the project and for reading and commenting on various
drafts of the paper:
Dr Nasima Badsha
Dr Nico Cloete
Dr Richard Fehnel
Dr Teboho Moja
Ms Susan Stroud
Dr Nick Taylor

Layout and design by Homefront Publications.

Cover design by Mzwakhe Nhlabatsi, Phillip Santos and Marc Suttner.

Rahmat Omar

Project coordinator
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The term `community service' is increasingly being used in discussions and


debates throughout South Africa. This concept paper was developed to
gain some clarity about the role of community service in higher education
and to stimulate informal debate around thus issue.

`Community service' as used in this paper, is defined in broad terms as:

programmes linked to higher education that involve participants in activities designed


to deliver social benefits to a particular community in ways that teach the
participants to work jointly towards achieving the common goal. Participation in
community service usually involves a degree of personal sacrifice in terms of time,
remuneration and convenience.

This approach to community service is captured in the matrix on page 108


as opportunities for earning, learning and community commitment. This
definition is broad enough to include programmes that are voluntary or
compulsory, programmes that involve youth or adults, and those that
provide some form of payment or no payment. It encompasses activities as
diverse as general volunteer activities which do not require specific levels
of skill or knowledge, and activities related to community outreach or
extension services which demand different levels of knowledge and skills at
higher education level, such as the many law clinics operating on South
African campuses. But the definition also excludes certain types of
activities: for example, employment in the civil service, per se, is not
community service or national service. This definition also excludes
programmes whose primary purpose is job training or placement and
which are designed to serve their participants rather than the community
(such as placements in engineering, discussed in section 2).

Within the ambit of this broad definition, this concept paper attempts to
illuminate and focus the discussions and debates about community service
by,

• Exploring what is meant by `community service' and how its purpose is


understood;
• Providing initial descriptions and analyses of a number of existing projects
or programmes in higher education in South Africa;

• Describing some models used in other countries and drawing out the
main trends in the international context;

• Drawing out similarities and differences between the experience of


community service in South Africa and other countries;

• Exploring community service in the context of higher education; and

• Providing preliminary conclusions.

EXAMPLES OF COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAMMES IN


SOUTH AFRICA

Little empirical research or evaluation of existing community service


programmes has been done in South Africa and the research team had to
undertake its own investigation between July and August 1997. The
information provided in this concept paper is based on interviews conducted
with the organisations involved. The information base may be sketchy and
incomplete, but the research has provided some insights which may take the
debate forward.

The paper provides an initial description and analysis of the programmes


under five categories: student volunteer service programmes; workstudy
programmes on and off campus; community outreach and extension services;
curriculum-related programmes; and internships/placements.

Volunteer service programmes

Volunteer service programmes treat service as an extra-curricular activity,


carried out during vacations or outside tuition time. The current emphasis is
on student involvement in general tasks, rather than those specifically related
to their field of study: thus no academic credit is provided. Financial aid is
provided in some cases, but this is relatively small. These programmes are
funded mainly by donors and through student fundraising. The programmes
tend to be small in scale and have a loose relationship with the higher
education institution that hosts them. Their small-scale
nature limits them to a marginal role in a context where the scale of need is great
in terms of service and human resource development.

Workstudy programmes

Workstudy programmes on campus involve students in tasks and activities at


different levels, each requiring greater expertise and experience (for instance as
assistants in administrative, teaching, library, research, laboratory and technical
activities as well as providing services to students on campus). There are certain
work categories (such as cleaning, technical maintenance, gardening and canteen
duties) for which students are not employed. This is to avoid displacing workers
and is a response to negative perceptions of menial work.

While the main goal of the programmes is to provide financial assistance to


needy students, two other goals have informed their design - student
development and institutional capacity building, particularly in the case of
historically disadvantaged institutions. These goals, together with concerns about
capacity to run off-campus projects, have determined the on-campus focus of
these programmes.

Off-campus workstudy programmes take the form of off-campus placements,


mainly in advice offices, research and nongovernmental organisations. They
involve students and staff in tasks related to research, administration, publicity
work, teaching or tutoring and liaising with parliamentary portfolio committees.

In one of the programmes surveyed a contract is drawn up for each participant,


specifying arrangements, responsibilities and obligations. Students work for 90
hours as academic interns or community interns and are given a living allowance
as well as part payment on their student fee accounts, which are made only once
the work required has been completed.
Community outreach/Extension services

These programmes were initiated within higher education institutions, either as


department/ faculty initiatives or as institution-wide initiatives. Students and staff are
involved in activities and tasks that require the specialised knowledge and skills of
their particular academic disciplines and sometimes involve interdisciplinary or
multidisciplinary activities. In most cases recognition is given, either in the form of
academic credit or in the form of research publications. In some cases practical
support and services for local communities flow out of the teaching and research
activities.

These programmes draw their financial support from a number of sources - including
contributions by the institution, support from parastatal institutions, private sector
grants or foreign donor support. These activities are seen as directly related to the
mission of higher education in terms of a commitment to quality teaching,
scholarship and research which is responsive to the developmental needs of society.
Responsiveness to societal needs in this approach is expressed through the main
functions of higher education (teaching, scholarship and research).

This contrasts sharply with the approach that sees `community service' as a
distinctive, third leg of higher education's mission (along with teaching and research).
With the latter approach, responsiveness to societal needs can become an add-on
activity, peripheral to the main functions of teaching and research. However, in both
approaches, service delivery is not seen as a distinctive function of higher education.

Although these are distinct programmes they involve the higher education institution
in a more enduring relationship with specific communities. The link between these
programmes and the mainstream activities of higher education institutions has the
potential to transform relationships between higher education and the broader
society.
Curriculum-related programmes

Curriculum-related programmes in this paper refer to internships integrated


into the curriculum which have been a feature of mainstream professional
education for many years. The primary purpose is related to learning and skills
development (to supplement academic learning with some form of
experiential learning) rather than financial assistance or provision of services
to the community.

These programmes take the form of community service in governmental or


nongovernmental organisations, or they take the form of placements in
particular workplaces or organisations as a course requirement. These
activities have traditionally been associated with professional disciplines, such
as teaching, engineering and medical technology among others. The number
of placement positions available may limit the number of students who can be
registered for these courses. For some students, these placements have
generated positive experiences, but for many the lack of supervision means
that students do not gain as much as expected from the experience.

Placements

Internship has for many years been a feature of mainstream teaching in higher
education institutions. It integrates practical or experiential learning into the
curriculum, but traditionally does not aim to provide service to a community
or to the organisation in which the student is placed as a primary or secondary
goal. Placements are a requirement of the course and their primary purpose is
skills development for individual students. These programmes provide a
mixture of academic and experiential learning and help to improve the work
preparedness of graduates. However, in the face of financial difficulties faced
by higher education institutions and rationalisation measures introduced by
employers, placements and internships have become increasingly difficult to
organise on a large scale. The number of students who can be admitted to
these courses is limited in some cases by the number of internship positions
available. Placements of interns in this category are not regarded as a form of
community service in this study.
A SURVEY OF SERVICE PROGRAMMES IN NINE COUNTRIES

A number of developing countries have introduced national service


programmes for higher education students to address skills shortages and
national development needs. On the basis of available literature nine
programmes were studied: Botswana, Costa Rica, Ghana, Indonesia, Israel,
Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria and the USA. Seven of these programmes are
compulsory national programmes and two are voluntary national programmes
(Israel and the USA).

Although the programmes surveyed may have changed in the past five years,
and details of the analysis may not be current, the international experience
provides useful lessons for South Africa and forms a basis for the comparisons
made in section 4.

An analysis of the stated goals of the programmes shows that they address, or
seek to address, a number of complex, interrelated goals. National development,
unity and the development of civic commitment is one category of goals which
most of the programmes share. Other goals are to bring the university closer to
the community, to improve curricula and to enhance students' learning through
opportunities for practical experience and personal growth.

Deployment: In seven of the nine countries surveyed service was, or is,


compulsory and the service period ranges from 150 hours to two years.
Participants in the service programmes studied generally do not have any choice
in where they are sent or in which projects they participate, and a continuing
issue has been students attempting to influence decisions on their deployment.
In the two voluntary programmes studied, one is undertaken by students during
their studies; the other provides a range of community service opportunities,
some of which are aimed at potential higher education students, others at
students in institutions and others at graduates.

The literature indicates that the reality of compulsory service is often more
complex than is initially anticipated: in many countries programmes may not, in
practice, include every student because of lack of financial resources to operate
the programmes and/or corruption or cheating in programme requirements.
In programmes where students undertake community service during their
studies, the policy on payment varied from statutory prohibition of
payment (eg. in Costa Rica) to payment of stipends at the level of a
subsistence wage (eg in Nepal). In programmes deploying graduates, as in
Ghana or Nigeria, graduates were generally paid less than their expected
earnings in nonservice positions. In the Americorps programme, graduates
receive a modest living allowance and health cover during the programme
and earn an education award after completing their service which can be
used towards paying off student loans or financing further studies.

The national service programmes surveyed were organised and managed in


different ways, but were all national in their orientation. In some countries
government initiated, organised and supervised the service programmes,
either centrally or by devolving operational responsibility to state
secretariats within a clear national framework. In other cases government
provided the resources and a framework of national priorities, but left the
management and supervision to a statutory agency or to higher education
institutions individually.

Most of the programmes surveyed were financed by government - even


those managed and administered by higher education institutions. By
contrast, the Americorps programme is supported through contributions
from the public, private and independent sector. Government support for
all programmes, both compulsory and voluntary, has been influenced
considerably by fluctuations in the economy and periodic cutbacks in the
national budget.

Constraints experienced by service programmes included student


resistance, limited and irregular funding, insufficient placements for
effective service, ineffective supervision and unevenness of quality and
programme design across higher education institutions in the same country.
Furthermore students sometimes lacked identification with the community
problem and the necessary methodological skills to apply knowledge in the
community. Finally, the choice of directing government resources to
students rather than unemployed youth or adults led to tensions.

The literature indicates that the impact on social and national development
needs has been difficult to establish since the few evaluations which have
been done do not provide quantitative data and their claims are often
unsourced. Claims concerning the impact of national service programmes
should therefore be treated with caution. However, on the basis of available
evidence they argue that service programmes have: boosted the pace of rural
infrastructural development (Nigeria); significantly increased rural school
enrolments and literacy levels and improved living conditions (Nepal); made
`substantial' contributions to rural welfare and development in medicine
(Mexico); helped to deliver the national health service plan by providing
qualified personnel for permanent and mobile clinics in the rural areas
(Nigeria); delivered direct and measurable results in the areas of education,
public safety, human needs and the environment (Americorps); and served as
an important feedback mechanism for university planners, teachers and
government in respect of rural needs (Nepal).

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA

The best-known experience of national service in South Africa was compulsory


military conscription into the South African Defence Force under the apartheid
system. This form of national service has become associated in the minds of
many South Africans with political repression and militaristic tendencies. The
experience has discredited the idea of national conscription and has left a
legacy in which the concept of compulsory conscription is often viewed with
suspicion. However, recent developments emerging from civil society and
government attempt to give new meaning and form to the notion of national
service. The shift in terminology from `national service' to `community service'
is indicative of these developments.

The National Youth Service Initiative, established by the National Youth


Development Forum in 1993, sought a new approach. It rejected any
association with the military, located itself squarely within a reconstruction and
development agenda and tried to shift emphasis from notions of conscription
of youth in militaristic 'corps' to mobilising young people to participate
voluntarily in programmes designed to meet identified social needs in the
communities in which they lived. The initiative sought to design programmes
which could simultaneously address the education, training and development
needs of youth and secure their involvement in
service activities contributing to national reconstruction and
development. In spite of many problems in implementation, one of the
initiative's significant contributions was that it attempted to infuse the
notion of national community service with a developmental, rather than
a destructive, militaristic orientation.

Debates about redefining the concept of community service have also


been integrated more closely into debates about the transformation of
higher education. Youth and student organisations have expressed
concern about the need to develop strategies whereby students in need
of financial aid can be assisted to gain access to higher education.

The South African Students' Congress resolved at its annual congress in


1996 to lobby for compulsory community work for all higher education
students. Its proposal is that community work for higher education
students should be linked with what they are studying and should be a
prerequisite for completing their courses. Additional community work
could be performed by students in return for fee concessions.

The National Youth Commission's activity report of July 1997 contains


proposals for a voluntary national youth service programme with the aim
of `integrating young people into the economy' and `finding synergies
between the need for young people to develop skills and a work ethic
and the need for communities to be serviced'. More specifically, the
National Youth Commission has proposed a community service
programme targeting young people in higher education as a `creative
way of financing higher education'.

Various government line ministries are developing proposals which aim


to overcome skill shortages and improve the provision of services in
underserved communities. The best-known examples here are the
community service proposals for medical and law graduates. Proposals
are also being made for the design of human resource development
programmes which are more responsive to societal priorities. These
strategies include attempts to conceptualise the role of placements and
internships for undergraduates and graduates in ways that will address
multiple goals, including meeting skills shortages, integrating experiential
learning into the higher education curriculum, enabling graduates to
meet new requirements for professional registration and providing
employment
opportunities for graduates. The proposals have generated intense debate
about their purpose, nature and implementation.

CONCLUSIONS

On the basis of the research and the analysis, the concept paper draws six
conclusions about community service in South Africa:

• Community service is a feature of many higher education strategies


which are seeking to respond to societal needs;

• The primary beneficiaries in most of these programmes are the


institutional stakeholders: students and staff;

• Increasing the scale and impact of community service activity


depends on establishing a strategic match between resources and
needs;

• If community service is to make a major impact on social need in


South Africa, a quantum leap is required from the fragmented
services provided. The challenge is to develop a coherent system
which accommodates diversity while putting in place incentives and
measures to promote responsiveness to national development
priorities;

• External funding is critical for the development and growth of these


initiatives; and

• Student financial aid strategies could be boosted by community


service.

The paper also identifies areas for further research.


SECTION ONE

INTRODUCTION

'Community service' is a term which is being widely used in discussions and


debates taking place throughout South Africa. This concept paper was
developed to gain some clarity about the role of community service in higher
education in South Africa, and to stimulate informed debate around this issue.

Proponents of community service argue that the concept can contribute


significantly to several issues facing higher education. Some see it being able
to affect student financial aid. Others believe that it can assist in changing and
improving the curriculum to make it more responsive to national, regional
and local community development needs. And some argue that through
community service, students can improve their employment prospects.

It may also be argued that participation in community service programmes


holds direct benefits for a number of stakeholders in higher education. For
example:

• Students are probably the main beneficiaries - they acquire work-


related skills, earn money and contribute to the provision of services to
communities;

• Academics have an opportunity to develop links with society, develop


new ways of teaching and researching, and acquire consultancy
opportunities - all of which improve the case for the continued public
and private support of financially beleaguered higher education
institutions;

• Employers will have the opportunity to improve their pool of potential


employees, influence the curricula to develop the kinds of skills they
requite to become more competitive, and gain access to emerging
knowledge;
• Poor communities may get the chance to leverage funding from government
or private sector donors for community service programmes and may get
access to some services, even if they are of uneven quality and may have
little impact on eradicating poverty; and

• Government can influence the training of professionals and public servants


needed for the new South African dispensation, make inputs into higher
education curricula, and gain credibility for a progressive and socially
responsible approach to human resource development.

The call for a comprehensive community service programme in higher


education has emerged most vocally among youth and student organisations.
For example, at its annual congress in 1996, the South African Students'
Congress (Sasco) resolved to lobby for compulsory community, work for all
tertiary students. `Such work should be directly linked with what they were
studying, and should be a prerequisite in order to complete their
degree/diploma. Additional community service could be performed by students
for fee concessions.' Along similar lines, the National Youth Commission
proposes a programme targeting young people at universities as a `creative way
of financing higher education'. The thrust of the proposal is that young people
who cannot afford the expense of tertiary education should `collect credits by
spending a certain amount of time in community service'. Both youth and
student organisations see community service as a way of providing communities
with services which will further their development, while simultaneously
creating students who are more conscious of the country's development needs
and of their responsibility as citizens. They are also concerned with finding
strategies whereby students needing financial aid can be helped to access higher
education by doing community service in lieu of fees.

More recently an approach to human resource development began emerging in


different line ministries which shows growing commitment towards diversifying
the skills base so as to meet the developmental goals being set within the
different sectors. There is also growing interest in relating people development,
teaching and learning to the world of work, to social and community
development, and to achieving national and provincial needs. These trends
provide new impetus for developing a service ethos in human resource
development.
For example, the Department of Welfare comments that `there is an
overreliance on professional social workers and there is a need to expand
human resource capacity through the employment of other categories of
social service personnel such as child and youth care workers, community
development workers, social development workers and volunteers. 1 The
department also stresses the importance of building a culture of
voluntarism in community work and seeks to relate this to academic
endeavour.

In Vision 2000, a strategy tabled recently in Parliament, the Ministry of


justice spelled out its focus on programmes which aim to increase access
to justice and which, among others, target children. In this regard the
ministry is devising strategies to meet specific human resource needs such
as restructuring the training of legal professionals to meet developmental
goals and to strengthen the paralegal movement, including the training of
advice office workers and the training of paraprofessionals in alternative
dispute resolution procedures. 2

The Department of Health's emphasis on primary health care has already


led to a reorientation of the academic curriculum for doctors, nurses and
paramedical staff. The training of nurses, in particular, is acquiring a
stronger focus on community need and community involvement: `We are
trying to move our nurses at basic training level away from a hospital-
based setting into a community-based one, ideally with a 50/50 split’ 3

Higher education institutions, too, are seeking ways of becoming more


responsive to the development needs of society through teaching, learning
and research programmes which contribute to the advancement of all
forms of knowledge and scholarship within the context of local, regional
and national development needs. (See section 6 for a detailed discussion)

1White Paper for Social Welfare, chapter 4, section 8, p.23.

2Information gained in a meeting held by members of the research team with the Ministry
of justice planning unit on 23 July 1997.

3A spokesperson for the Wits University nursing department, quoted in the Sunday
Independent of 27 July 1997.
However, while the concept is eliciting greater interest in South Africa,
it is unclear what is meant by `community service'. The term evokes an
ideal without defining it sufficiently closely. For example:

• Would community service be compulsory, entirely voluntary or


encouraged by government? If voluntary, what incentives would be
used to induce service?

• Would community service be applied only to students?

• In higher education would community service apply to all students,


or only to students in certain disciplines or only to students in need
of financial aid?

• How long would service last?

• Would it involve work that prepared participants for jobs or would


they perform only tasks that do not compete with those
undertaken in the job market?

• Would participants be compensated, and if so at what level?

Even more fundamental is the need to agree on the larger value or


purpose of community service.

• Is it intended as a means of securing financial aid for students in


higher education or is it a way of getting students to repay society
for the opportunity of higher education?

• Is it intended to meet skills shortages and extend the provision of


social programmes; to create jobs for the unemployed; or is it a
way of reorganising learning by supplementing classroom
education with work experience?

Community service may have all these goals, but they are not always
mutually compatible. This raises the question of how the purpose of
community service is to be assessed, whatever its design.

The lack of specificity about the nature and purpose of community


service generates broad support for the ideal, but inhibits the close
examination of the benefits and problems that may characterise
different types of service. A further problem is the lack of empirical
research and social
science literature on the experience of community service in South Africa.
As a result, the debate takes place at a level o£ generality which inhibits
serious analysis of the different forms and purposes of community
service. In this concept paper the research team has tried to avoid these
pitfalls by clarifying the conceptual boundaries of the terms `community',
`service' and `community service'.

Conceptual boundaries

Conceptions of community vary from programme to programme. In


some cases the term `community' refers to the campus community while
in other cases it refers to poor or disadvantaged communities in a
particular local area. In their efforts to become more responsive, higher
education institutions are also using the term `community' to refer to
societal need more broadly.

The concept of service can be delineated in three different ways:

• The first refers to service as a mainly free and voluntary activity


through which humanitarian assistance or relief is provided to the
needy. This conception can also be defined as welfare. It is
sometimes criticised as amounting to charity or `do-gooding' as it
emerges from a strong sense of moral obligation rather than
contributing to a larger and more systematic effort to eradicate
poverty. Examples of this type of programme have been discussed in
section 2 under the heading `Student volunteer service programmes’;

• The second refers to activities undertaken in the service of a greater


cause or ideal, such as religion or nationalism, and involves
participants either through appeals for voluntary participation or
through compulsion in the form of conscription. The most
commonly known form of service in this category is national service
programmes which have emerged in many post-colonial or post-
revolutionary situations where the new state has emphasised the need
for accelerated social and national development. The service activities
are carried out within a strict moral or legal code of conduct.
Examples of thus category of service have been described in section
3 which focuses on international models of national service
programmes in countries such
as Nigeria, Indonesia, Nepal, Mexico, Costa Rica and others. These
programmes are said to have had a significant impact on national
development and have usually occurred in situations where strong
governments have been able to intervene in direct ways. They are
characterised by a highly centralised form of organisation, driven and
funded by the state. Despite problems encountered in implementation, they
have succeeded in extending the provision of services on a large scale; and

• The third conception of service is that of a professional, structured


relationship where expert service is provided for a fee, usually within a
contractual framework of accountability. These could include services
provided by qualified professional practitioners, functioning in the
public or private sector as employees, individual practitioners or
consultants. The definition of community service used in this paper
excludes this type of activity since it flows from the employment
contract. As noted above, approaches to human resources development
within several ministries are increasingly focusing on forms of
community service within particular professional disciplines.

Definition of community service

`Community service' is defined in broad terms as:

programmes linked to higher education which involve participants in activities designed to


deliver social benefit to a particular community and which teach the participants to work
jointly towards the achievement of the common goal. Participation in community service
usually involves a degree of personal sacrifce in terms of time, remuneration and convenience.

This approach to community service is captured in the matrix on page 106


as opportunities for earning, learning and community commitment. This
definition includes programmes that are voluntary or compulsory,
programmes that involve youth or adults, those that provide some form of
payment and those that provide no payment at all. It encompasses activities
as diverse as general volunteer activities which do not require specific levels
of skill or knowledge (eg. Southern African Student Volunteers' Association
environmental projects), as well as activities related to community outreach
or extension services which demand
different levels of knowledge and skill at higher education level (eg. the
many law clinics which operate on South African campuses).

However, the definition also excludes certain types of activities. For


example, employment in the civil service, per se, does not constitute
community service or national service. While there is an emphasis
emerging within government departments about a service orientation or a
`culture of service’, this is different from community service as defined
above since the service orientation is required in terms of the contract of
employment.

This definition also excludes programmes whose primary purpose is job


training or placement and which are designed to serve the needs or
interests of individuals (eg. placements in engineering, discussed in section
2) rather than the needs of the broader community. Benefits to the
community may result from such activities, but are essentially secondary to
the benefits gained by the individuals concerned.

Objectives of this paper

Within the ambit of our definition, this concept paper attempts to deepen
the discussion about community service and to illuminate and focus the
emerging debate by:

• Exploring what is meant by the term `community service' and how


its purpose is understood;

• Providing initial descriptions and analysis of a number of existing


projects or programmes in higher education;

• Describing some models used in other countries and drawing out the
main trends in the international context;

• Drawing out similarities and differences between the experience of


community service in South Africa and other countries;

• Exploring the relationship of community service with higher


education; and

• Concluding that: community service is a feature of many higher


education strategies; that the primary beneficiaries are students and
staff; that increasing the impact of community service activity depends
on achieving a strategic match between resources and needs; that the
challenge is to develop a coherent system which accommodates
diversity while promoting responsiveness to national development
priorities; that external funding is critical for the development of these
initiatives; and that student financial aid strategies can be boosted by
community service.
SECTION TWO

COMMUNITY SERVICE IN HIGHER EDUCATION:

AN ANALYSIS OF SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNITY

SERVICE CASE STUDIES

The lack of empirical research and social science literature on the experience of
community service in South Africa has already been noted. To ground this
concept paper in a clearer understanding of the community service programmes
being run in the higher education sector, the research team undertook a limited
scan of the field in July and August 1997.

A number of higher education institutions were contacted by a team of


researchers and efforts were made to tap the experience of technikons as well as
universities, historically advantaged as well as historically disadvantaged
institutions, and institutions based in urban as well as rural areas. Institutions,
organisations and individuals were asked to identify projects that involved
students and/or staff in experiential learning, particularly through community-
based activity. The research team then developed a framework of required
information to guide the field workers. The field workers gathered the data
through site visits, interviews with key project personnel and reviewing written
material on the various projects. A brief profile of each project was developed
from the data and these are included in the appendix.

The research team chose a sample of these programmes for further


investigation and analysed the information according to the following
categories: goals; programme design; programme operation; scale of the
programme; what proportion of the need is addressed; participants (who are the
doers? eg. students and staff; intended beneficiaries (members of the
community, patients, students who use the library, etc); programme costs;
programme financing; to what extent the programmes require the special inputs
of higher education; why the programmes were initiated
and by whom; programme partners; institutional support provided; the
relationship between the programme and the curriculum and whether or not
academic credit is given; whether or not participants are paid, and to what
extent this payment assists students in meeting their financial obligations.

An initial scan of the identified programmes showed that they could be


divided into a number of categories:

• Those that take place before higher education, during higher education
and after higher education. This analysis has focused on projects that
take place during and after higher education;

• Programmes could also be divided into those that are mainly intended
to provide financial support for students; those that are mainly
intended to amplify the higher education curricula in different fields of
study; and those that are mainly intended to build a greater sense of
community commitment among the participants;

• The nature of the programmes could be classified into five broad


categories: those involving students in volunteer service programmes;
workstudy programmes on or off campus; extension services or
community-outreach programmes; curriculum-related programmes; and
those in which students served internships or practica; and

• When considered through the lens of `service', the programmes


constitute points on a continuum, distinguished primarily by their goals
and the extent to which the goals are defined explicitly in terms of
service. The analysis in this report thus refers to different types of
service, eg. volunteer service programmes, community outreach and
extension services, national service, etc. Some programmes (such as
those involving placement in the workplace) do not constitute
community service as defined in the introduction. Nevertheless they are
briefly discussed below because they are located at one end of the
continuum and provide a useful reference point in assessing the other
programmes

The analysis and observations that follow are based on the outcome of this
short research process. Given the limited time available for this project, the
information base is sketchy and somewhat incomplete, but the research
team believes that some of the main trends have been identified. Should
there be a serious interest in community service, it is recommended that further
research, analysis and evaluation be undertaken so as to document current
practice. The higher education institutions are well-placed to assist in this work,
and a range of funders may be interested in supporting these efforts.

1. STUDENT VOLUNTEER SERVICE PROGRAMMES

2. Overview of findings

Student volunteer service programmes treat service as extra-curricular activity,


carried out during vacations or outside tuition time. The emphasis is on student
involvement in general tasks, rather than those specifically related to their field
of study, therefore no academic credit is provided. Financial aid is provided in
some cases, but this is relatively small. Participants live at home or in residence
at the institutions where they study. These programmes are funded mainly by
donors and through student fundraising. The programmes tend to be small in
scale and have a loose relationship with the higher education institution which
hosts them. Such programmes may be appealing because participation is
voluntary, they are modestly intrusive on the time of participants, require
relatively low levels of administration and are able to respond directly to local
issues. Their small-scale nature limits them to a marginal role in a context
where the scale of need is great, both in terms of service and human resource
development.

Features of the programmes surveyed

The research process surveyed the activities of four student volunteer service
programmes: the University of Pretoria-based Southern African Student
Volunteers' Organisation (Sasvo), the University of Cape Town's Students'
Health and Welfare Centres Organisation (Shawco), the Ujima Fundraising
Organisation based at the University of Cape Town (Ufundo) and the
University of Stellenbosch Clinics Organisation (Uskor). On the basis of the
information collected in this short research period, four features have been
identified. They are examined below.
Most of the programmes are student-initiated, and programme goals range from student
development to community development.

Three of the four programmes (Ufundo, Shawco and Uskor) were initiated by
students and in two cases (Shawco and Uskor) by medical students
specifically. The Sasvo programme was initiated by staff at the Centre for
Human Rights at the University of Pretoria. Although two of the
programmes were started in the past four years (Sasvo in 1993 and Ufundo in
1995), two have been running between 33 and 54 years: Shawco has been
running since 1943 while Uskor was launched in 1964.

The goals of the four programmes fall into two categories: student
development and community development.

• Sasvo and Ufundo focus on student development as their main goal,


while simultaneously seeking to inculcate a sense of community
commitment in the participating students. However, the two
organisations tackle this task quite differently: Sasvo provides
opportunities for tertiary students at all universities, technikons and
colleges to work as volunteers on projects during vacations. Ufundo's
main goal is to support University of Cape Town students who require
financial assistance through bursaries and loans which are given in
exchange for their involvement in development projects.

• Shawco and Uskor aim primarily to address the development needs of


communities through student involvement and provide a range of
services and projects towards this aim: Shawco's goal is to achieve
community development by providing `responsible, effective and
integrated health, education and social services to marginalised and/or
underserviced communities'. Programmes target women, youth and
other sections of the community through service provision and skills
development and they operate at eight different sites in the Cape Town
area. Uskor deploys students and the knowledge and expertise of the
university through six `service delivery and development' projects:
health, entrepreneurship, job creation, youth development, adult basic
education and training, and community resources development. It
would seem that the Uskor programme is a smaller version of the
Shawco operation.
Ufundo and Sasm focus on short-term projects, while the welfare organisations (Shawco and
Uskor) adopt a more institutionalised approach to the delivery of services in the community.

Ufundo operates four projects - a computer literacy project affiliated to


the university's computer science department and Anderson Consulting;
a tutoring programme; an AIDS awareness project; and a project which
focuses on nature awareness and environmental conservation.

Sasvo recruits participating students at tertiary education institutions


countrywide. Sasvo's activities in mid-1997 engaged 300 higher
education students in a major school renovation and human rights
campaign in more than 50 Gauteng schools.

Shawco and Uskor offer services in similar fields, but operate in


different ways and at different sites. Shawco offers health services
through three mobile clinics, an HIV and AIDS resistance programme
and a nutrition programme. The welfare services include social work
counselling, job creation projects and the provision of meals to needy
senior citizens. The education component of the organisation offers
tutorial services and adult education programmes. Uskor offers
entrepreneurial development and job creation projects, programmes
that focus on primary health care, youth development and adult basic
education and training, and a community resources programme.

Shawco functions on a larger scale than Uskor, but both have been
operating for years. This gives their service delivery something of an
institutional nature within the communities in which they operate. It
would seem that the employment of permanent staff is an important
factor in the long-term development of the two organisations' activities
and in the meaningful involvement of the volunteers.

The organisations enjoy a loose relationship with the host institutions, but do not draw much
institutional support of the land which is intrinsic to the higher education mission (eg, teaching
and research).

Shawco and Uskor have a loose relationship with their host institutions,
using the university's office space and financial, human resources and
other support systems, but functioning independently in other ways.

Ufundo runs four projects on campus and operates in partnership with


various sections of the University of Cape Town administrative
structure: the student affairs department, financial aid office and the
office of the vice-chancellor. Sasvo projects are coordinated by staff at
the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, although
they draw their student volunteers from higher education institutions
around the country. At present none of the four organisations seems to
attract a teaching or research interest on the part of the higher education
institutions with which they are associated. In some cases university staff
serve on decision-making structures of the organisations, but this seems
to be a transient and fairly peripheral involvement. At least one
organisation identified considerable potential for the host institution to
support its transformation process through a closer and more hands-on
association between its teaching and research activities, and through the
on-the-ground activities of the student volunteers' organisation.

The present emphasis in the volunteer programmes thus seems to be on


student involvement in general rather than the specialised involvement
of student volunteers related to their field of study. The one exception is
the deployment of medical students in Shawco and Uskor's health care
programmes, but no academic credit is given for the practical experience
gained by these student volunteers.

No information could be gained about the impact of the programmes in


the communities with which they are involved. In the Ufundo and Sasvo
programmes it seems that students are the primary beneficiaries of the
programme-either through receiving financial aid or through the
learning, work and development engagement they experience by virtue
of their participation. This is consistent with the programme goals in
each case. The benefits to the communities are still to be measured. If a
closer and more engaged relationship were to evolve between the
organisations and their host institutions, the research expertise of the
institutions could assist the organisations in measuring their impact -
both on the student volunteers involved and on the communities in
which the projects are located.
The programmes tend to be small in scale.

The scale of student involvement in the four organisations surveyed


ranges between 45 and 600 students: Ufundo involves 45 students; Uskor
involves 250 students; Sasvo involved 300 students in its July 1997
projects; and Shawco involves 600 students.

Two of the organisations also employ full-time staff - Uskor has eight
staff members while Shawco has 50 staff members, most of whom are
hired from the local community. Shawco also draws on the services of
one university lecturer (a social worker) on a part-time basis and one
administration staff member seconded by the university on a full-time
basis.

The research could not establish the extent of outreach of the


programmes except in the case of Shawco. For example, the organisation
operates at the following sites in the Western Cape: Elsies River,
Heideveld, two sites in Khayalitsha, Kensington, Manenberg, Nyanga and
Retreat. Some of the quantifiable deliverables include the following: three
mobile clinics treat about 3 600 patients a year; the nutrition project feeds
8 000 preschool children and 30 000 primary school children daily; and
the social work programme reaches close on 1 000 cases a year. In the
course of this research, however, it was not possible to assess the impact
of this work. While a 600-volunteer programme is substantial, it is
nevertheless relatively small in comparison to, for example, the voluntary
service for university students launched in Israel in 1972. In 1988 the
Israeli programme involved 12 000 participants nationwide. One of the
major reasons for the scale of this operation must be the fact that it was
initiated and supported by government.

Furthermore, the scale of operations in the South African voluntary


student organisations is undoubtedly affected by their insecure financial
situation. The organsations are mostly dependent on annual fundraising
efforts. Limited information on costs and financing strategies was
obtained from three out of the four programmes, but these are global
figures and should be closely analysed. The available information
suggests that programme budgets are vastly different in scale, ranging
from R240 000 a year in Ufundo's case (and R300 000 a project in the
case of Sasvo) to
R3,9 million in the case of Shawco for 1997/98.

Funding strategies focus largely on donor partnerships and student


fundraising efforts. Local funders (both corporate and nonprofit donors)
provide the bulk of the funding for Ufundo and Sasvo while student
fundraising efforts make up about 20% of Shawco's funds. This organisation
also enjoys some support from an overseas donor. It would seem, however,
that in some cases the programmes have been able to access government
funds (for example, Shawco's nutrition programme and Sasvo's school
building campaign accessed reconstruction and development programme
funds).

2. WORKSTUDY PROGRAMMES

Overview of findings

Workstudy programmes on campus involve students in tasks and activities at


different levels, each requiring greater expertise and experience (eg. as
assistants in administrative, teaching, library, research, laboratory and
technical activities as well as services to students on campus). There are
certain categories of work (such as cleaning, technical maintenance,
gardening and canteen duties) for which students are not employed. There
are two main reasons for this: firstly to avoid displacing workers, and
secondly in response to students' negative perceptions of menial work. While
the main goal of the programmes is to provide financial assistance to needy
students, two other goals have informed their design - student development
and institutional capacity building, particularly in the case of historically
disadvantaged institutions. These goals together with concerns about capacity
to run off-campus projects, especially with large numbers of students, has
determined the on-campus focus of these programmes.

Off-campus work study programmes take the form of off-campus


placements, mainly in advice offices, research and nongovernmental
organisations, and involve students and staff in activities and tasks related to
research, administration, publicity work, teaching or tutoring and liaising with
parliamentary portfolio committees. In one of the programmes
surveyed a contract is drawn up for each participant, specifying arrangements,
responsibilities and obligations. Students work for 90 hours as academic interns
or community interns and are given a living allowance as well as part payment
on their student fee accounts, which are made only once the work required has
been completed. The programme involves students of all races and has served
as an eye-opener for many advantaged students who previously had no idea
about conditions of life in disadvantaged communities.

Examples of the programmes surveyed

Workstudy programmes are well-developed at the University of Natal


Pietermaritzburg and at five institutions in the Western Cape (the Peninsula
Technikon, the University of the Western Cape, the University of Cape Town,
the Cape Technikon and Stellenbosch University). The Western Cape
initiatives are partly supported by the Desmond Tutu Educational Trust.

O n-campus workstudy programmes

Most workstudy programmes in the Western Cape have focused on campus-


based work. The types of work include the following major categories, almost
all of which provide opportunities for work from basic to more advanced
levels;

• Administrative assistants - the work ranges from mundane clerical tasks,


such as photocopying, to highly responsible work involving the
establishment and running of systems. For example, at the University of
the Western Cape the workstudy office was at times run by student
assistants, at least one of whom took up the position of workstudy
coordinator on a full-time basis as a paid employee. This is a good example
of how workstudy experience can prepare students for job opportunities;

• Teaching assistant - the range of work varies considerably from relatively


junior assistants who work under close supervision to senior tutors who, in
some instances, take on major teaching and marking responsibilities. Some
teaching assistants are involved in specialised areas such as writing centres,
in computer literacy training and various
types of mentorship. Concern has been expressed at some
institutions that too much of the responsibility for teaching junior
students has, in some instances, been left to teaching assistants,
deployed through workstudy;

• Library assistants - the work varies from shelf-packing to more


sophisticated duties. The University of the Western Cape book
leasing scheme (attached to the library as an independent function)
was at one point run by students' assistants. At the Peninsula
Technikon the workstudy students have played a central role in
library duties;

• Research assistants - this varies from simple exposure to the research


environment to more extensive involvement (eg. Peninsula
Technikon students have been involved in the development and
maintenance of computer systems, etc);

• Laboratory/technical assistants - this includes laboratory teaching


assistance (demonstrators), more specialised repair work on
computers and the preparation and marking of practicals; and

• Students' service - this is a broad category involving students in a


range of work benefiting the student community, for example, with
campus police services, in the residences (reception, telephone duties
etc.), with the student representatives' councils and student
government (administrative duties, students' drivers etc.)
Horticultural activities at Cape Technikon and dental community
services at the University of the Western Cape also fall into this
category.

These broad categories of workstudy show that students have not been
employed on campus to do certain categories of work such as cleaning,
technical maintenance, gardening, canteen duties, etc. The main reasons
for this are to avoid displacing workers and in response to perceptions of
students' attitudes towards certain types of work. In particular, black
students (regardless of socioeconomic background) are perceived as
being reluctant to do domestic work, as a reaction to racial and gender
stereotyping. However, this area has never been properly studied and
requires attention.
There are a number of reasons for the on-campus concentration of
workstudy in the Western Cape. Firstly, there has been reluctance on the part
of the Desmond Tutu Educational Trust to spread its increasingly limited
resources in new directions. The retention of a focus on institutional capacity
building (especially at the historically disadvantaged institutions, which
receive the bulk of the trust's funding) has been an important factor in this
respect. Secondly, there has been relatively little 'buy-in' from the tertiary
institutions with concerns being raised about capacity (in the institutions, the
Desmond Tutu Educational Trust and in the outside organisations) to run
off-campus projects, especially with large numbers of students.

While the main goal of these programmes has been to provide financial
assistance to needy students, two other goals have also informed their design:
student development and institutional capacity building. In the case of
historically disadvantaged institutions such as the University of the Western
Cape and the Peninsula Technikon, workstudy has become an essential
feature of the institutions which have come to rely on student work to carry
out a range of essential services. For example, if workstudy students were not
employed at Peninsula Technikons, the library would have to close at 8pm
instead of 10pm. It is noteworthy that when workstudy funding from the
Desmond Tutu Educational Trust was significantly reduced, both the
University of the Western Cape and the Peninsula Technikon were obliged
to draw on their own funds to sustain key areas of workstudy because
students were undertaking core functions at the institution. Thus workstudy
is used to address student financial aid, student development and institutional
capacity building. In contrast, the workstudy focus at the University of Cape
Town through the curriculum vitae-building programme has been primarily
towards individual student development and financial aid. Although this
programme was not able to function in the first semester of 1997 owing to
the unavailability of Desmond Tutu Educational Trust funds, the university
has since agreed to support the programme from its own funds.

The University of Natal Pietermaritzburg's Student Employment Project


(Step) manages an extensive workstudy programme whereby students are
able to serv e as academic research interns in their fields of study. They work
with a staff member or a student mentor working in a peer-tutoring
programme under a staff supervisor. Students are offered
employment in the departments where they have been interns. Mentoring
relationships help to identify potential in students that would otherwise have gone
unnoticed, role models are provided for other students, career paths are identified
and students are offered employment because of the specific experience gained in
the internship programme. Academic research interns work under the same
conditions as community interns participating in the Step project (see below).

Off-campus workstudy programmes

The University of Natal Pietermaritzburg's Step project launched its workstudy


programme in 1991 with four aims in mind: To develop a mentoring relationship
between academic staff members and students; to encourage students to do
community work; to assist first-year students to overcome their learning
difficulties; and to assist needy students in supplementing their fees and general
income. The programme operates both on campus and off campus and students
each work for 90 hours as academic interns or community interns. Students are
given a `living allowance' and receive part payment on their student fee account.
These payments are made biannually once the work required has been completed.
Contracts are drawn up for each participant and each intern and their staff mentor
attend a joint compulsory introductory workshop at the beginning of the year.

The programme has established close working relationships with 11


nongovernmental organisations through which off-campus placements are
arranged. This facilitates the students' access to work such as research,
administration, publicity work, tutoring disadvantaged students, following up with
government institutions on behalf of elderly people, and working with portfolio
committees dealing with land, conservation, housing, local government and a
wealth of other sectors. Placement sites range from provincial and local
government through advice offices to research organisations dealing with land
issues and the results of political violence. In 1995 the initiative was taken to open
the programme to all races. This in itself was an eye-opener because it highlighted
areas where previously advantaged students were disadvantaged. Some students
had never ventured into the townships and were horrified to find out about the
conditions in which old people had to collect their pensions; other
students had been afraid to go into small business areas that were
historically not white.

Step has identified a number of instances in which participating students


changed their career paths as a result of their involvement in the
programme, having had the opportunity to explore new work
environments and to show what they were capable of doing.

3. COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAMMES AND


EXTENSION SERVICES

Overview of findings

These programmes have been initiated within higher education


institutions, either as department/faculty initiatives or as institution-wide
initiatives. Participants include students and staff who are involved in
tasks that require the specialised knowledge and skills of their academic
disciplines and sometimes involve interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary
activities. In most cases recognition is given, either in the form of
academic credit or in the form of research publications. In some cases
practical support and services for local communities flow out of the
teaching and research activities.

These programmes draw their financial support from a number of


sources, including contributions by the institution, support from parastatal
institutions, private sector grants or foreign donor support. These
activities are seen as directly related to the mission of higher education in
terms of a commitment to quality teaching, scholarship and research
which is responsive to the developmental needs of society. In this
approach, responsiveness to societal needs is integrated into the
institution's mainstream activities or is expressed through the main
functions of higher education (teaching, scholarship and research).

This contrasts sharply with the approach that sees `community service' as
a distinctive, third leg of higher education's mission (along with teaching
and research). In this alternative approach, responsiveness to societal
needs can become an add-on activity, peripheral to the main functions of
teaching and research. However, in neither of the two approaches is service
delivery seen as a distinctive function of higher education.

The link between these programmes and the mainstream activities of the
higher education institutions has the potential to transform relationships
between society and higher education. Although the community outreach and
extension services are distinct programmes, they involve the higher education
institution in a longer-term relationship with specific communities.

Examples of community outreach programmes

This is a category of programmes which seeks to make the mainstream


activities of institutions more relevant and responsive to community need. The
form this takes is community outreach through which the special expertise of
higher education is applied to community issues. However, it does not
necessarily involve service provision. This approach has been adopted by the
University of the North West and the Technikon Northern Transvaal.

The University of the North West aims to involve all its faculties in the
development of the university's surrounding community. The purpose of
involving students is to give them practical work experience and to expose
them to community issues. Community service is compulsory for all students
and is completed in different ways. For example, one of the department of
chemistry's projects involves 25 students in three related activities: performing
a chemical and biological analysis of rural water supplies in the Molopo region
of North West province; correlating the analysis results to the health of
community members and disease profiles; and running intervention and
education programmes for the 12 villages in the region. The project is a
partnership between the University of the North West and the Water Research
Commission. The water commission operates in the province and aims to
create the links between research, teaching and community service that enable
the university to be responsive to the broader community's needs.

The department of mechanical engineering at the Technikon Northern


Transvaal has been approached by the Medunsa Organisation
for Disabled Entrepreneurs to form a joint venture for the development of
a mobile spaza. Under this programme senior mechanical engineering
students, under the guidance of their lecturer, will design the mobile spaza
and supervise and control the building of a proto-type model. The students
on the project will be divided into four teams - suspension and steering,
platform and superstructure, engine and power-pack, and control and
electricity. In this service-learning project, students will be challenged to
take what they have learnt in the classroom and to apply it by helping other
people.

Examples of extension service programmes

A number of the programmes surveyed were primarily established to set up


a different site for research and learning. They express the mission of the
institutions in different contexts and often generate services to which the
community concerned has access. The following programmes are briefly
described: the University of the Western Cape's pharmacy and dentistry
programmes, the Technikon Witwatersrand's community projects, the
University of the Witwatersrand's Rural Facility, and the University of
Venda's Legal Aid Clinic.

The University of the Western Cape's department of community dentistry


runs two projects which involve student assistants:

• The Eros project is focused on preventive health and aims to


improve the oral hygiene of scholars at the Eros School for Cerebral
Palsied Children; and

• The denture project is based at a clinic in Guguletu and was


established to provide a free denture service to the elderly in
Guguletu, Langa, Nyanga and Khayelitsha. Historically dental
services were not extended to this community and the demand for
dentures has been phenomenal. While the conditions in which
students provide the service are less than ideal, the opportunity
offered to students to provide the service has resulted in the rapid
development of skills in the field of prosthetic dentistry. The project
has also highlighted the conditions of pensioners in disadvantaged
communities.
The University of the Western Cape's School of Pharmacy introduced a
community pharmacy asthma project to investigate the potential for using
pharmacists and community pharmacists to improve the identification
and management of asthmatic patients who visit pharmacies for
medication. The project evolved in response to a need expressed by
community pharmacists, and proved valuable in exposing undergraduate
students to aspects of pharmacy practice.

The Technikon Witwatersrand's community projects division aims to


support one aspect of the institution's mission which is to `structure its
activities to promote the community's quality of life4 through projects
launched in disadvantaged communities. Through a community projects
officer, different departments engage in community outreach
programmes. About 120 students have been involved. Some spend an
average of one day a week doing community service while others
participate during technikon holidays. Examples of the projects include a
water purification project in Pilanesberg; a health clinic in Alexandra used
by taxi drivers and commuters; fine art education in disadvantaged
communities; computer literacy programmes for teachers; peer tutoring
programmes for matric students; and bridging programmes for post-
matric students. Depending on the particular project, the students
involved in the different projects may receive bursaries or academic
credits, and in some cases are paid for their participation.

The mission of the University of the Witwatersrand's Rural Facility sums


up the purpose of its work as follows: `The University of the
Witwatersrand should through a permanent presence in a typical rural
area create a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary endeavour which will
contribute to the development of such areas, which will inform society of
rural needs, which will provide a venue for experiential community-based
learning for postgraduate and undergraduate students from a spectrum of
facilities, which will alert Wits graduates to the challenges and rewards of
working in such a rural area and which will ultimately benefit not only the
immediate communities but South African society as a whole on an
ongoing basis, through the service, research, advocacy and policy making
of the students and staff who are participants in and products of the
WRF endeavour.'

4Technikon Witwatersrand mission statement, 1997.


The rural facility is involved in numerous projects which employ about 40
full-time staff and involve many different Wits departments. For example,
the department of occupational therapy in Johannesburg runs a training
course for community-based rehabilitation workers in conjunction with the
Tintswalo Hospital rehabilitation unit. The rural facility provides
accommodation for students and trainers, runs some of the training
sessions on community development topics, and has helped evaluate the
programme. Mechanical engineering students have contributed to this
project by designing and building low-cost walkers for local disabled
people.

The work of the rural facility is closely tied with the curriculum as students
and faculty staff use the facility to take their academic work (research,
scholarship and teaching) to new levels.

The University of Venda's Legal Aid Clinic is one of about 18 legal aid
clinics attached to universities around the country. It seeks to give form to
that aspect of the mission of the University of Venda which commits it to
serve the community alongside its teaching and research priorities. The
goals of the clinic are to provide practical experience for senior law
students, to train attorneys and to serve the community by making legal aid
available to indigent people. The clinic is run by the law department which
provides specialised staff input. Final-year students receive academic credit
for the 32 hours of practical work each does in the clinic and there are 63
students involved in the programme this year. The candidate attorneys (11
in 1997) also receive accreditation for the training they receive in the clinic.
The clinic ensures that it reaches unemployed or low-income members of
the local community by applying a means test, and this year and in the
period July 1996 to June 1997 it processed an average of 270 cases a month
(the total for the year was 3 234). Funding is obtained from the university,
the Attorney's Fidelity Fund and the Legal Aid Board, but funding is one of
the areas in which the programme is most vulnerable.
4. CURRICULUM-RELATED PROGRAMMES

Overview of findings

Curriculum-related programmes refer to credit-bearing internships


integrated into the curriculum which have been a feature of mainstream
professional education for many years. The primary purpose is related to
learning and skills development (to supplement academic learning with some
form of experiential learning) rather than financial assistance or provision of
services to the community. These programmes take the form of community
service in government or in nongovernmental and community-based
organisations, or may take the form of placements in particular workplaces
or organisations as a requirement of the course.

Examples of curriculum-related programmes

A number of the programmes surveyed provide opportunities for the


institutions to restructure their curriculum design in relation to community
need. Programmes in this category include those launched by the University
of Natal Pietermaritzburg, the Johannesburg College of Education, Leaf
College and the University of the North.

In 1992, the University of Natal Pietermaritzburg's theology department


piloted the integration of internships as a credit-bearing course. Curriculum
change was brought about through knowledge gained from research in
townships and squatter camps. The information obtained has been used to
improve the training of priests who go back into these communities. This is
a growing project in the theology department.

In 1996 the university set up a pilot study in the political studies department
where students were required to put in 40 hours community work as part of
their course work for a citizenship and community-service programme. The
class was created to `encourage students to think about and encounter issues
pertaining to citizenship by a combination of course work and an internship
with an approved community partner'. The internship was spread over a
semester and required a minimum of 40 hours of voluntary community
service in either governmental (provincial
or local) or nongovernmental work. The curriculum for the class focused
on researching and understanding the role of citizenship in a democratic
society, working in the internship, and reflecting on those experiences
through a journal and in class discussion. Students in the class were also
required to complete a final report and presentation to link the major
themes from the classroom to the experience they gained in the field.

Leaf College is a post-matric residential college which aims to address the


needs of students who have particular abilities in commerce and
engineering, but who are educationally underprepared through inadequate
access to educational resources. One way in which the college
incorporates community service into its curriculum is through its
engineering course. Students, working in groups, identify a technology-
related problem in their community and design a product to solve the
problem. The groups make a model and a technical drawing of the
product, write a report, and give an oral presentation on the product. The
design project gives students an opportunity to apply what they are
learning in the classroom to the real world in the context of helping other
people. The project also helps students to develop skills in thinking,
organising, communicating and working in a team.

The University of the North's National Community Water and Sanitation


Training Institute was established with the primary aim of influencing
higher education to engage more students in programmes which will
contribute to the development of the human resources needed in the
community water and sanitation sector. The institute is negotiating with
the university to establish an agriculturalist generalist programme which
would focus on engineering and rural development. It is anticipated that
the institute would play a significant role in developing the curriculum for
the programme, teach several courses on environmental science, and
facilitate the placement of students in community-based work in the water
and sanitation sector.
5. PLACEMENTS

Overview of findings

Internship has for many years been a feature of mainstream teaching in


higher education institutions. It integrates practical or experiential learning
into the curriculum, but traditionally does not aim to provide service to a
community or to the organisation in which the student is placed as a
primary or secondary goal. Placements are a requirement of the course and
their primary purpose is skills development for individual students. These
programmes provide a mixture of academic and experiential learning and
help to improve the work preparedness of graduates. However, in the face
of financial difficulties faced by higher education institutions and
rationalisation measures introduced by employers, placements and
internships have become increasingly difficult to organise on a large scale.
The number of students who can be admitted to these courses is limited in
some cases by the number of internship positions available.

Supervision, monitoring and assessment of interns adds considerably to the


workload of staff, both in higher education institutions and in the company
or organisation in which interns have been placed. The exercise is seen as
costly because students have to be paid, but their contribution to improved
productivity or services is small. In spite of these problems, the internships
are regarded as important opportunities for generating more relevant
learning and improving the employment opportunities of graduates.

Placements of interns in this category are thus not regarded as a form of


community service in this study.

Features of these programmes

Higher education institutions are all trying to become responsive to the


demands of the world of work. Internship has for many years been one of
the ways in which institutions have tried to integrate practical or
experiential learning into the curriculum. Placements are a course
requirement and their primary purpose is skills development for
individual students. Students also benefit from the secondary spin-offs of
placements by gaining exposure to the work culture, developing increased
confidence, etc. These placements do not traditionally aim to provide
service to a community or to the organisation in which the student is
placed, either as a primary or a secondary goal.

The case studies below show that in a number of fields the traditional
forms of internship are becoming increasingly difficult to organise in the
face of cost-cutting in institutions and in the workplace.

The ML Sultan Technikon in Durban is the only technikon in South


Africa that offers diplomas in medical technology and clinical technology.
The medical technology diploma has a six-month compulsory internship
at the end of the three years of study and the clinical technology diploma
has a full-year internship in the third year of the diploma. This year is a
mixture of academic and experiential learning as students are assessed at
the hospital where they work and write a formal academic exam. In both
cases students must complete their internship to obtain their diplomas.

The number of students that can be accepted by the technikons for the
above diplomas is limited by the number of placement positions in
teaching hospitals. M L Sultan has problems placing students in Durban
as there is only one hospital. This means students have to go to hospitals
in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria for their internships. The
South African Medical Council has asked other technikons not to offer
medical technology diplomas because of the shortage of places in
hospitals for training. Even so, M L Sultan is starting to face problems
with placements because of rationalisation and cutbacks at hospitals. It is
also not possible to expand placements to clinics as students have to have
access to specific equipment and procedures to complete their training.

All students are monitored by technikon staff and are supervised by


senior medical staff at hospitals. The monitoring by the technikon staff
of students in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria has added
considerably to the staff workload. Because staff have full teaching loads
the monitoring has to occur during exam time at the technikon. The
monitoring of internship also adds to the cost of the course and both
courses consistently run at a loss.
The national engineering diploma consists of four semesters of study at the
technikon and one year's internship. The internship can be split into two
sessions. The individual institution monitors the students but the day-to-day
supervision is undertaken by the employer. Quality control is maintained by
the Engineering Council which accredits each institution. As part of the
accreditation process the council assesses the monitoring of experiential
learning and assesses a sample of students.

The placement of engineering technikon students has become problematic.


Previously there were tax incentives for companies to undertake training but
now there are no incentives and companies are not keen to take on student
interns because they are attempting to rationalise their workforces. The
exercise is seen as costly because the students have to be paid but there is
no impact on productivity or the `bottom line'. Schemes to overcome these
problems, for example by not paying students, have not worked and
companies will not consider laying off workers in order to use students.

University engineering students are expected to undertake some sort of


experiential learning during their degree course. However, the length and
nature of this aspect of the course is left up to individual institutions.
Generally, the length of experiential learning is 12-16 weeks. In some
universities the requirement is two periods of six weeks. The only
opportunity to undergo this is in the December holidays but this is difficult
because industry winds down. Industry is even more resistant to taking on
university students than technikon students because they have no practical
training and are therefore more of a burden.

For some students their placements in industry have been positive


experiences, but for many the lack of supervision means that the internship
is wasted. This is an important factor if there is any consideration of
addressing labour market shortages or social needs through national service
for graduate engineers because new graduates need careful direction.
6. OBSERVATIONS

The programmes are mostly initiated within individual institutions. Virtually


all the case studies examined are institution-based and were initiated by one or
more of the higher education stakeholders (the institution as a whole, or a
group of students, or a specific department or faculty). In contrast with some of
the examples from other countries, none of these programmes were
government-initiated, nor did they receive government support. Furthermore,
none of the programmes were community-driven.

About two thirds of the programmes surveyed are closely related to the mission
of the higher education institutions and use the skills and expertise located
within these institutions. These programmes are intended to extend the
institution's knowledge base through its engagement with new, underdeveloped
sites, and in a number of cases practical support and services for local
communities are flowing out of the teaching and research activities being
undertaken by the programme.

The programmes are locally organised.

All the programmes examined in this study are locally organised, operating from
the institutional base within which they were created. Except for Sasvo, they all
draw their students and staff from the particular institution in which they were
initiated. Sasvo involves students from higher education institutions across the
country in its projects.

The student volunteer organisations enjoy a loose relationship with the host
institutions, often using the institutional facilities to run their programmes, but
they are not able to draw much on the unique skills and expertise that the
institutions have to offer.

In a number of cases faculties or departments take direct responsibility for


running the extension services or community outreach programmes. This tends
to happen in those cases where the programmes are closely related to the
teaching and research mission of the higher education institution.
External funding is an essential support in all the programmes
surveyed.

The research found that in virtually all cases, external funding was
essential in getting the programmes launched and in sustaining them.
Funds are provided by a wide range of sources: South African companies,
South African foundations, in some cases parastatal organisations such as
the South African Atomic Energy- Board, and foreign donors.

In a number of cases the institutions contribute to the funding base of


the programmes, particularly where they perceive the programme to be in
their interests. It would seem that these commitments then enable the
institutions to leverage additional funds from the other sources such as
private sector and donor organisations. Very few programmes are able to
rely entirely on financial support from the institution that launched them.
At the same time, when grant funding was reduced (as was the case with
some of the Western Cape and University of Natal workstudy
programmes) the institutions found the funds from their own budgets to
sustain the programmes. These financial commitments provide strong
indications that the programmes are regarded as adding value to the
institutions concerned - either to achieving their mission or to developing
institutional capacity. The programmes often have multiple goals.

The research showed found that the programmes often have more than
one goal. To determine who benefited most directly from each
programme, it was necessary to try and identify the primary goal in each
case. This helped to establish whether there were any secondary
beneficiaries and/ or byproducts in each programme. It also helped to
determine how the programme activities relate to the mission of higher
education and the extent to which the activities require the special
expertise of higher education.

Irrespective of who initiates the programme, the major benefit is


derived by the programme participants.

The analysis suggests that irrespective of which higher education


stakeholders initiate the programmes, the major beneficiaries in each case
are the active participants in the programme - the students and staff of
the higher education institution involved. In some cases the institution
also derives direct benefit from the programme.

For each of the stakeholders, the benefit takes different forms. For
example, students may benefit from the financial aid they receive in
exchange for their participation in the programme; they also gain work
experience, grow in confidence, and develop specific and transferable
skills. Many of the programmes enable students to learn how to work
independently as well as with other people, and help them acquire life
skills such as improved communication, punctuality and an ability to
keep appointments.

Participation in the service programmes provides staff with opportunities


to make their work more relevant to a transforming curriculum and
assists them in generating new knowledge. Some programmes offer new
opportunities for research and consultancy; both of which may attract
private funds from new sources, and this ultimately benefits institutions
which are facing a financial squeeze.

In the case of the institutions, some programmes contribute to


developing institutional capacity (especially in the case of the Western
Cape on-campus workstudy programmes which deploy students to do
core work in the institution at cheap rates). The programmes also have
an impact on the curriculum, they sensitise academics to the need for
skills development and the need to bridge gaps between institutions and
community activities, and they support affirmative action efforts by
helping the institutions groom their own academics. The programmes
facilitate systemic institutional change through the development of
partnerships internally and externally.

In examining the benefit of the programmes to the communities they are


intended to serve, the research found that the definition of the
community shifts from one programme to another. In some cases the
term `community' refers to the campus community while in other cases it
refers to poor or disadvantaged communities in a particular local area.
From the available information it would seem that the programmes are
in a position to add value to the communities (as defined in each case),
but in the absence of evaluations, impact assessments and the views of
the communities themselves, it was not possible to estimate what impact
these services were having on the scale of need. The impression given
by the available information is that the impact is small in comparison
to the enormous need in most South African communities. For
example, the survey of legal aid clinics conducted during this research
found that 18 clinics countrywide address less than 1% of the
estimated need for legal aid. In the case of the workstudy programmes,
however, the value of services rendered to the institutions (which in
themselves constitute the community for the programmes) could be
deduced from the fact that when external funding was reduced, the
institutions found funds from their own budgets to continue the
programmes.

The traditional internships that place students in the workplace do not


refer to the notion of community and our conclusion is that these
should not be regarded as forms of community service. These
placements do not provide services to the disadvantaged, nor do they
respond to community need; they are placements whose primary
purpose is to enable the students to gain practical experience.

The programmes tend to be small in scale and may not be easily


expanded or replicated.

The student volunteer service programmes are relatively small in scale.


The factors influencing this situation include their insecure financial
position and the low level of institutional involvement. Furthermore,
volunteer programmes typically appeal to youthful idealism and
professional altruism and depend for their success on a `culture of
voluntarism'. Critics argue that South Africa has a weak culture of
voluntarism mainly because of widespread poverty and social
inequality and because volunteer programmes are unlikely to develop
on a large scale unless they are closely linked with direct benefits for
participants.

A further criticism is that the small-scale nature of volunteer


programmes limits them to a marginal role in a context where the scale
of need is large, both in terms of services and human resource
development. While the volunteer programmes could be strengthened
and expanded (for example, through academic credit for participation),
the organisations are hesitant about this issue. Financial constraints, as
well as the careful consideration of organisational, administrative and
human resource
capacity and sustainability issues have resulted in a cautious attitude
towards expansion. Furthermore, they argue that their current strengths
(flexibility, local responsiveness and possibilities for building local
partnerships) may be lost in expansion.

In the case of the service-related activities that are closely related with
the higher education missions (eg. extension services, community
outreach programmes and community internship programmes) it was
found that an assessment of the scale of these operations depends on the
nature of the activity. In some cases, such as extension services, the
outreach may be quite substantial. For example, the survey has found
that the medical, social work or tutoring programmes can handle
thousands of cases a year and can be replicated more extensively if
funding and other support mechanisms are in place. However, in cases
where high levels of skill and specialised facilities are required (such as
the University of the Witwatersrand Rural Facility or the University of
the Western Cape's dental faculty programmes), the outreach is of
necessity more limited and may not be easily expanded or replicated.

At present most of the programmes tend to encompass short projects


which link with the curriculum and do not interfere with existing jobs.
Nevertheless the idea proposed by some organisations of significantly
expanding this type of community service would have to be examined
closely, as expansion could have implications for labour displacement.
SECTION 3

A SURVEY OF SERVICE PROGRAMMES IN NINE COUNTRIES

A number of developing countries have introduced compulsory national


service programmes for higher education students to address manpower
shortages and national development needs. Seven of these programmes as
well as two voluntary programmes - one in Israel and one in the USA - were
studied for this paper.

The main sources of data were Eberly and Sherraden's (1990) survey of nine
national service programmes5 and Albrecht and Ziderman's (1992) work on
financing universities in developing countries. Eberly and Sherraden selected
countries that `have substantial or noteworthy experience with national
service and that offer informative contrasts in programme design as well as
variation in geographic, political and economic contrasts'. Five of these
programmes - those in Costa Rica, Nigeria, Indonesia, Israel and Mexico are
aimed at higher education students and were therefore included in this study.
In addition, service programmes for higher education students in Ghana,
Botswana and Nepal were examined. Finally, the study considered a variety of
service programmes for higher education students in the USA -AmeriCorps,
the Cornell Tradition, the Bonner Scholars' Programme, the National
Teacher Corps and the National Health Service Corps.

The following analysis is based on the information at the disposal of the


research team during July and August 1997. The programmes surveyed may
well have changed in the past five years, and details of the analysis may
therefore not be current. Nevertheless, the international experience provides
useful lessons for South Africa and forms a basis for the comparisons made
in section 4.

5The programmes surveyed were based in China, Costa Rica, Nigeria, Indonesia, Israel,
Mexico, the USA, Canada and West Germany.
Goals

An analysis of the stated goals of the programmes shows that they address,
or seek to address, a number of complex, interrelated goals:

• Bringing a university closer to the community/nation (Mexico and


Costa Rica);

• National development (Mexico, Nigeria, Botswana, Costa Rica,


Indonesia, Nepal and Ghana);

• Repaying the nation for free education (Mexico and Costa Rica);

• Providing practical experience for university students (Mexico,


Indonesia, Nepal and USA);

• Providing career training (Mexico and USA);

• Personal growth (Botswana);

• National unity and integration (Botswana, Nigeria and Indonesia);

• Civic duty and commitment (Nigeria, Costa Rica, Ghana and USA);

• Assisting disadvantaged individuals and communities (Indonesia, Israel


and USA); and

• Improving the higher education curriculum (Nepal and USA).

Although the purpose, effects and design of these programmes are varied,
all attempt to address socioeconomic need through the deployment of
educated manpower in the form of higher education students. Organisation

In seven of the nine countries surveyed service was, or is, compulsory and
the service period ranges from 150 hours to two years. In Nigeria and
Ghana national service is compulsory after graduation. Nigerians who
graduate from any university inside or outside Nigeria are liable for one
year's service and employers are prohibited from hiring graduates who do
not possess the certificate of national service. In Ghana the period of
compulsory service was one year when the programme began in the 1970s but
was increased to two years to increase the supply of students. In Costa Rica,
Mexico, Nepal and Indonesia a minimum period of service is undertaken
during the students' studies and is a requirement for graduation. In Botswana
the service programme is a requirement for government sponsorship of post-
secondary education and occurs before students begin their studies. The
voluntary programme in Israel, Perach, is undertaken by students during their
studies while in the USA some programmes are aimed at potential higher
education students, others at students in institutions and others again at
graduates. Participants in the AmeriCorps programme, which provides
education awards in exchange for community service, can undertake
community service at any time in their student careers and the awards can be
used to pay off student loans or to finance tertiary education.

Eberly and Sherraden indicate that `the reality of mandatory service is often
more complex than official requirements indicate'. They claim that
programmes such as those in Indonesia, Mexico and Nigeria may not in
practice include every student because of lack of financial resources to operate
the programmes and/or corruption or cheating in programme requirements.
In Botswana rapid growth in secondary enrolment and budgetary constraints
means that not all school leavers can be accommodated. In 1991, 75% of the
more than 6 000 school leavers participated. Those not able to be
accommodated (usually those with the lowest pass marks) have to obtain an
exemption certificate.

Deployment

Participants in the service programmes studied generally do not have any


choice as to where they are sent or in which projects they participate. In Costa
Rica students have no control over where they are sent, although some
attention is paid to fields of study in deciding assignments. In Nigeria
graduates have no choice in selecting their assignment or the location of the
assignment. Assignments are located as far as possible from the home of the
participant but are, wherever possible, relevant to students' professional skills
and/or national need. In Botswana participants are allocated to districts
according to requests received from district representatives. They then attend
a one-week orientation course at which
they indicate their career preferences. However, career preferences are often
not available in remote and rural areas. In Nepal where the government
implemented required rural service for all higher degree university students,
priority was given to the most remote and least developed areas of the country
and students were allocated to villages by random ballot. In Mexico many
government agencies have small stipends to offer and they try to recruit the
best students. The system therefore functions largely as an economic market
with the best students receiving the best positions and highest stipends.

The programmes studied do not allow students to choose their assignments,


and a continuing issue has been students attempting to influence decisions on
their deployment. A study of the Nigerian National Youth Service Corps
shows that in 1982-84, when staff were not protected from pressure by
students and family members, 17% of corps members were assigned to their
home states. However, in 1985-86 when they were protected from such
pressures only 1% were assigned to home states.

Management and coordination

The service programmes in the nine countries have been initiated, managed,
coordinated, administered and supervised in a wide variety of ways. In Nigeria,
Israel, Botswana and Ghana, where service takes place before or after higher
education, government has been instrumental in initiating, organising and
supervising service programmes. This has in some cases necessitated setting
up extensive bureaucracies. In Nigeria the National Youth Service Corps is
governed and managed by the Federal Ministry of Social Development Youth
and Culture. The National Youth Service Corps directorate includes
representatives of the academic community, employers, the armed forces and
other government ministries. The directorate headquarters in Lagos is
responsible for policy making, finances and the general administration of the
scheme. Directorate headquarters also controls the mobilisation of students
and their deployment to the 21 different states in Nigeria. Each state also has a
National Youth Service Corps secretariat which is responsible for matching
the qualifications of participants with the needs of employers in the state. State
officials control the day-to-day administration of the scheme within their
states. They keep in contact with employers and participants to
monitor performance, pay out the monthly allowance and deal with
recurring problems.

In contrast to this the Israeli government-funded voluntary service


programme, which uses higher education students as tutors of
disadvantaged children, maintains a small bureaucracy. The Ministry of
Education selects the children who can benefit from a paraprofessional
relationship but tutors are monitored and supervised by past participants
in Perach who are in turn supervised by an education professional.

In Botswana the Tirelo Setshaba programme has a small secretariat which


is responsible for allocating participants to projects and for orientation.
However, service is overseen by government departments, as well as by
parastatal or nongovernmental organisations.

In the four countries where service takes place during higher education
there is varied government involvement in the service programmes. Costa
Rica is the only programme studied where there appears to be no
government involvement. The Trabajo Comunal Universitario
programme was initiated by the university, and the vice-rectory for social
action was created as the organisational structure through which to
implement the Trabajo Comunal Universitario programme. The projects
are initiated from inside the university and the directors of projects are
professors identified with the type of work to be undertaken. Professors
are given a workload credit for directing these projects and officially
devote a minimum of one-fourth of their time to projects. Supervision is
the university's work but according to Eberly and Sherraden `a great deal
depends on the commitment and skill of the community project
coordinator'.

In Indonesia, Mexico and Nepal government has made a period of


service compulsory for higher education students but the programmes
are largely administered and supervised by university faculty members.
Kulaih Kerja Nyata in Indonesia operates on a set of guidelines issued by
the Directorate of Higher Education but each university has an institute
of community service that operates the programme. Faculty members
have to help students to overcome problems encountered while doing
projects in the villages and to do related research. In Nepal national
development service was initiated by government and rural service was
legislated for all higher
degree university students between 1974 and 1980. The programme was
financed by government through the university budget, supplemented by
the United Nations International Culture and Education Fund (Unice fl.
However, the university administered the programme and students worked
under university and local community supervision, partly as teachers in
rural secondary schools and partly as general community development
workers.

The Servicio Social of Mexico was made mandatory for higher education
students by federal law in 1947. The programme remained undeveloped
until 1978, when a national coordinating commission for social service for
students in higher education was established by government. The
commission is organisationally part of the Secretariat of Programme and
Budget and it and other governmental agencies, such as the Secretary of
Health and of Education, share in financial support of students. The
commission has also formed a system of state committees to coordinate
Servicio Social but control is limited to advice, service and so forth. It
attempts to create some unity by holding meetings, collecting statistics and
organising some placements. The office coordinates only 8 000 out of
about 43 000 placements a year, while 25 000 placements are controlled by
professors at the university. Each institution organises and manages
Servicio Social as it thinks best. Outside of medicine, the programme is
highly decentralised. This situation, as in the other three university-
administered service programmes, has resulted in a lack of coordination
and a wide range in quality. Taking the most extreme example, there are 23
sets of regulations for Servicio Social at the National University in Mexico
City, and no one accurately documents how many students participate. It
may be argued that Servicio Social is decentralised to the level of individual
professors, who often use Servicio Social participants for academic
research.

In America some of the programmes are government-driven and managed


while others are initiated and coordinated by individual higher education
institutions. The National Health Corps is based within the bureau of
primary health care in the Public Health Service, while the Cornell
Tradition is organised and managed by the university. The AmeriCorps
programme is an example of a programme which is nationally coordinated
but locally implemented. The National and Community Service Trust Act
of 1993 established the Corporation for National Service to `expand
opportunities for Americans to serve our country, rebuild their
communities, and help pay for their education in return'. The corporation
operates under the control of a bipartisan board of directors and has a
management and administrative team. The corporation has three main
programmes: Learn and Serve America, AmeriCorps and the National
Senior Service Corps. These programmes consist of hundreds of different
programmes. The Corporation for National Service selects the
programmes though a rigorous process and provides resources, oversight
and evaluation to ensure that the programmes meet their goals. The
programmes are locally managed and implemented and consist of public-
private partnerships with governors, national and community-based
organisations, corporations and foundations, colleges and universities, and
branches of local, state and federal government. State commissions on
national and community service or similar entities appointed by the
governor of each state have also been established and ensure that the most
important local priorities are met and that service activities are coordinated
though each state.

Nature of programmes

In the majority of programmes surveyed, governments initiated the


programmes to address general or particular development needs. The
programmes surveyed can be divided into two groups:

• Those in which students are deployed to alleviate skills shortages in


areas of need; and

• Those in which students undertake a wide variety of projects aimed at


providing some form of social service.

Deploying students to alleviate skills shortages

In the programmes in which students are deployed to alleviate skills


shortages in areas of need, students are generally engaged in full-time work
assignments for a minimum of nine months. In Ghana, Nigeria, Nepal and
Israel most students spend their national service teaching or lecturing at
education institutions. In Ghana and Nepal the service programmes were
largely directed at responding to labour market shortages for university
graduates in rural secondary schools while in Israel 90% of participating
students tutor children from disadvantaged backgrounds. In
Nigeria two-thirds of the total corps spend their national service teaching
or lecturing at educational institutions. The other third are involved in
health, agricultural programmes or working for the private sector such as
oil companies. 6 National Teacher Corps in the USA was designed to
ameliorate the deteriorating education systems in low-income and rural
areas by recruiting tertiary education students and experienced teachers for
two-year internships there. The National Health Service Corps recruits
health care professionals for placement in rural and inner city communities
with professional shortages.

Deploying students in projects to provide a social service

In Nepal students are responsible for mobilising local resources and


manpower for community projects, including health and nutritional
education, reforestation campaigns, adult literacy teaching, improved
sanitation, water supplies, agricultural and horticultural demonstrations,
and family planning promotion. In Indonesia students receive some
training and then go out in interdisciplinary teams of seven to villages for
general community development projects. In Mexico 67% of placements
are within the university and the remainder mostly within Mexico City in
projects concerned with urban automobile transportation, fishing, public
education, family services and telecommunications. In 1986/87, according
to official estimates, about 50% of participants worked within the
university, about 30% in government agencies and about 20% in the
private sector. About 80% were in urban placements and 20% in rural
placements (mostly in health care). In Costa Rica students participate in
projects located in and around the capital city of San Jose. At the beginning
of 1985 there were 74 projects: 35% were in social sciences, 23% in
engineering and agriculture, 20% in health, 12% in basic sciences, 7% in
arts and letters, and 3% in research. Projects at this time included
conducting research on food protection; grading exams on philosophy and
literature; translating English into Spanish; conducting research and
teaching environmental education in the national park system, developing
software for science instruction; evaluating the impact of municipal
investments; starting

6In Nigeria all corps members are also expected to initiate part-time community
development activities such as public health education, literacy classes or modern farming
methods. In Nepal students also play a dual role. They work under university and local
supervision, partly as a teacher in a rural secondary school and partly as a general
community development worker.
school and home vegetable gardens; teaching adult literacy; and providing
occupational therapy to the aged. A large number, as can be seen from this
short list, are research-oriented projects. In America the programmes have a
wide range of activities and goals. In the AmeriCorps programme,
participants assist needy communities or individuals and may be involved in
such diverse programmes as tutoring children, assisting crime victims,
helping homebound citizens or people with disabilities, restoring national
parks and coastlines, immunising children against preventable diseases, etc.

Relationship with curriculum

Although most of the service programmes studied are more oriented


towards service than learning, some emphasis on learning is apparent in the
programmes of Mexico, Nepal, Costa Rica and Indonesia. All involve
students in service projects before graduation and arrange in limited ways for
students to reflect on what is being learnt from the service experience. In
some cases Servicio Social in Mexico is oriented towards career training. This
is most true in medicine, education and social work. In medicine Servicio
Social is viewed as an internship; in education it is defined as practical
training; and in social work it is viewed as additional career training.

In Costa Rica the service programmes were initiated by the university. At


first service was seen as paying society for higher education but now it is
seen as applied education. Despite this no curriculum credit is given for the
service work undertaken, the programme does not substitute for practicals
and often the work in the Trabajo Comunal Universitario programme does
not relate to the students' studies. Because the Trabajo programme is not
included in the plan of study there is a lack of motivation on the part of
students and many students see it as a requirement which means only extra
work. The programme is also for this reason regarded as falling short of
applying professional skills. Supervision is carried out using group
techniques. Final reports are required of participating students before
graduation.

In Nepal the length of service is one year and it is carried out before the last
three semesters of academic study. Students spend two months in
orientation and training and receive limited field support. They are
evaluated and earn credit towards their degree. They work under university
and local supervision.

Indonesian students participate in the service programme in their fourth


year, following completion of course work and before writing
baccalaureate dissertations. Any student absent from the villages for two
weeks or longer automatically fails the Kulaih Kerja Nyata programme and
cannot receive a degree until this has been satisfactorily completed.
Although the service work is evaluated and earns students credit towards
their degrees the relationship between the Kulaih Kerja Nyata experience
and the university curricula seems to be limited. Some attention is paid to
fields of study in making assignments: for example, a project involving
land surveys would include a civil engineering student. Students receive
three hours of credit and are graded in connection with their Kulaih Kerja
Nyata experience. Fifty percent of the grade is given for field activities and
is determined by the student's supervisor, the subdistrict head and the
village head. The balance of the grade comes from training, the work plan,
the approach to the community, work standards and attitude, methods and
results of village observation, and student reports.

Scale of project

Eight of the nine programmes surveyed were compulsory. However, as


Eberly and Sherraden point out, `the reality of mandatory service is often
more complex than official requirements indicate'. They claim that
programmes such as those in Indonesia, Mexico and Nigeria may not in
practice include every student because of a tack of financial resources to
operate the programmes and/or corruption or cheating in programme
requirements. In Botswana rapid growth in secondary enrolment and
budgetary constraints mean that not all school leavers can be
accommodated. The estimated number of students participating in these
programmes is given below.

Nigeria: In 1974 the number of members of the Nigeria Youth Service


Corps was 2 400 and by 1984 it had increased to 34 000 and to 42 000 in
1991.
Costa Rica: At first projects were voluntary and experimental. In 1977
there were 13 projects and 334 participating students. By 1984, 1 436
students served a total of 423 000 hours in about 80 projects, most in
public institutions. By 1987 there were 36 000 students enrolled at the
University of Costa Rica and all were expected to undertake 150 to 300
hours of community service. The number of students per project depends
on the scope of the project and the number of students available for
service at a given time. Some projects have less than 10 students while
others have 40 to 50. The average is 10 to 15.

Indonesia: In 1973, Kulaih Kerja Nyata was established in 13 universities


and the study-service concept was incorporated into Indonesia's second
five-year development plan (1974-79). The Kulaih programme was offered
at all government universities by 1985 and at several private universities. In
1978, it was in place in 40 of the 44 government universities, and the
number of students in the programme had grown from 400 in 1973 to 6
000 in 1978. By 1985, it was mandatory at 37 out of the 44 government
universities and offered at all of them, as well as at several private
universities. (Total enrolment at the latter was slightly higher than that at
government universities.) Student enrolment in Kulaih Kerja Nyata
reached 18 500 in 1985 and dropped to 17 500 in 1986. After governmental
financial support was stopped in 1986, it was expected to evolve into a
local option, as had already occurred in private universities. No
information was available to the research team on further developments in
this regard. Mexico Servicio Social was started in 1936, initially focusing on
health care for rural Mexicans. All medical students were required to serve
for six months in communities that did not otherwise have medical
services. In 1947, federal law made Servicio Social mandatory for all higher
education students. It was not well-developed until 1978, however, when a
national coordinating commission for social service for students in higher
education was established by government. In 1971 there were 115
institutions of higher education, with 33 000 graduates, of which 67% were
said to have completed Servicio Social. These figures are questionable,
however, as Servicio Social was not well-developed at the time and did not
exist in many places.

According to official estimates, during 1986/87 there were 1,6-million


students in institutions of higher education or technical schools, and about
320 000 of these were potential Servicio Social participants. There were
59 000 participants through the commission coordinating social service
in higher education during that year. The potential pool in 1987/88 was
about 400 000. During that year, the number of students receiving small
stipends from the commission increased dramatically to 150 000. The
students served at 3 000 separate programme sites. In addition, about 70
000 served without a stipend. Nothing was officially known about the
remainder.

Botswana: Due to rapid growth in secondary enrolment and budgetary


constraints, not all school leavers can be accommodated; in 1991, 75% of
the more than 6 000 school leavers participated. In 1997 there are 6 250
participants.

Israel: The voluntary programme, Perach, had 12 000 participants in


1988. It is unknown what percentage of the student population this
represents, but in 1988, 1 500 of the 17 000 students at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem participated and 1 200 of the 6 000 students at
Haifa University took part. About 20% of students drop out of the
programme each year because of the demands of the tuition work.

USA: The AmeriCorps has more than 25 000 members. Payment of


students

In Nigeria and Ghana where graduates are employed in the national


service programme they are paid less than they would have earned in
nonservice positions. In Ghana graduates are paid a wage slightly below
the traditional civil service remuneration and in Nigeria graduates are
paid a stipend `somewhat smaller than their expected earnings'.

In Israel and the USA students are able to earn a considerable portion of
their fees for higher education through community service. Israeli
students can earn up to half their annual tuition fees in their nine months
of community service and money is a primary incentive for participation
in the programme. However, students are carefully supervised and are
paid only after proving they are responsible. AmeriCorps students receive
a modest living allowance and health cover while participating in the
programme. After completing a year of service (at least 1 700 hours) the
student receives an education award of $4 725. This award can be used
to help pay off student loans or to finance tertiary education.

Policy on payment varies considerably in the four countries in which


students undertake community service. In Costa Rica payment is
prohibited by statute. Many students in Costa Rica object to Trabajo
Comunal Universitatio because it requires extra work and often
additional financial expenditure by the student. In addition, lack of
money to pay students for transport and food often makes it difficult
for students to carry out their responsibilities. Although many students
were initially paid a minimum wage for their service in Mexico, this was
greatly reduced from 1980 after an economic crisis. By 1983/84, the
stipends were about 10 to 20% of the minimum wage. During 1987/88,
just over one-third of potential participants were receiving a small
stipend while another 18% served without a stipend. Nothing was
officially known about the other 45%. Government departments and
agencies still share in financial support of students, while communities
sometimes provide housing and food. Universities also provide funds,
sometimes supplemented by nongovernment funding. Students in
Nepal are paid a subsistence wage while in Mexico stipends for students
vary according to the employing agency. Many government agencies
have small stipends to offer and they try to recruit the best students and
offer the highest stipends.

Financing

Most of the service programmes surveyed were financed by


government - even those managed and administered by higher
education institutions. However, government support for these
programmes has been considerably influenced by changes in the
economy. In most cases government support has been reduced over the
years and in two cases (Indonesia and Ghana) it dried up altogether. In
Israel the education department is almost entirely responsible for
funding the programme. In Nigeria the programme is funded and
sponsored by the federal government. Project implementation is highly
dependent on this funding and on state and local cooperation in
acquiring land and other resources. Private institutions can subsidise a
graduate's stipend based on services tendered to that institution. The
costs of the programme are considerable, mainly
because of the administration of the programme and the deployment of
students to far-away states. The service programme was introduced as
part of Indonesia's five-year plan and as such 120 000 rupiahs (US$73)
per Kulaih Kerja Nyata student was allocated to government universities
from 1979 to 1984. The amount allocated has declined since then due to
severe cutbacks in the national budget. The allocation per service
programme student was halved in 1985 and reduced to nothing in 1986.
Since 1986 universities have bad to accept responsibility for financing.

In Mexico general funding was provided at a national level from 1978.


Although many students were initially paid a minimum wage for their
service, this was greatly reduced from 1980 following an economic crisis.
Government departments and agencies still share in financial support of
students, while communities sometimes provide housing and food.
Universities also provide funds, sometimes supplemented by
nongovernment funding. In Nepal the programme was funded by
government through the university budget and supplemented by Unicef.
The AmeriCorps programme is an exception to those described above in
that the private, public and independent sectors all contribute to the
implementation of programmes. In 1994-95 more than 600 businesses
and foundations contributed over $20 million in financial support
directly to local AmeriCorps programmes. In addition, millions of dollars
of in-kind contributions in the form of loaned personnel, training
facilities, computer networks, and supplies have integrated private sector
partners into the daily activities of AmeriCorps programmes.

Impact on social and national development needs

A number of the service programmes have been evaluated, but these


provide little analysis of the impact of the programmes on social or
national development. Although Eberly and Sherraden claim to provide
a `solid, comparative analysis of service policy and programme
performance', they do not provide quantitative data on the impact of the
programmes and their claims are often unsourced. Claims made
concerning the programmes should therefore be treated with some
caution.

Eberly and Sherraden claim that in Nigeria the National Youth Service
Corps has promoted the deployment of skilled manpower around the
country. For example, the `NYSC has made it possible for some school
systems around the country to have a regular supply of trained teachers'
and it `provided the catalyst for the realisation of the universal primary
education goals of the mid-1970s'. The youth service corps also increased
the supply of qualified lecturers and other personnel to newly created
universities and colleges. It helped to deliver the national health service
plan by providing qualified personnel for permanent and mobile clinics in
rural areas. Finally, the youth service corps is said to have `immensely
boosted the pace of rural infrastructural development'.

In Mexico Servicio Social's contributions to rural welfare and


development in medicine is said to have been `truly substantial'. Between
1962 and 1972, Servicio Social in medicine was a major source of medical
personnel for a growing hospital system. However, outside medicine its
largest single impact seems to have been in the area of university-based
research.

Eberly claims that evaluations have shown that the Tirelo Setshaba
programme in Botswana has had a `marked impact on education' as
students acted as teacher aides and enabled untrained teachers to go for
training.

No indications of the impact of Kulaih Kerja Nyata in Indonesia are


known, nonetheless it is claimed that life in many villages has been
improved in respect of water supply, sanitation, health and agricultural
methods as a result of the programme.

Albrecht and Ziderman also make claims about the social impact of
service programmes in Ghana and Nepal. In Ghana the national service
programme is described as having `yielded considerable social benefits',
while Nepal's national service development programme is said to have
had high societal benefits. Rural school enrolments rose sharply, and
literacy levels and living conditions improved. It also served as an
important feedback mechanism for university planners and teachers, and
for government in respect of rural needs.

The Corporation for National Service in the USA employs extensive and
continuous monitoring and evaluation procedures for all its programmes.
Every AmeriCorps programme has a plan for internal evaluation. These
plans set goals and ways of tracking progress and improving programme
quality. Progress towards goals is monitored by programme officers at
the corporation and representatives at state and local level. The first year
review of the AmeriCorps programme claims that over the year members
`delivered direct and measurable results in the areas of education, public
safety, human needs and the environment'. Examples of these results
include the following: in Texas 89 AmeriCorps members helped
immunise 104 000 infants; in Bozeman, Montana, 32 members built and
cleared 119 rniles of nature trails, prevented the erosion of 2 700 feet of
trout stream and planted 3 000 trees. In addition to the internal
evaluations, outside evaluators have also assessed the impact of
AmeriCorps. A study by economists of three representative programmes
found that `the return on every federal dollar invested in AmeriCorps
should result in $1,60 to $2,60 or more in direct measurable benefits'.
Another independent study has documented concrete benefits derived by
communities as the result of the AmeriCorps programme, `including
backing up members of the New York city police department, fighting
forest fires in the west, helping flood-ravaged neighbourhoods from
Texas to California to Minnesota, teaching in some of the nation's
toughest classrooms, and cleaning up polluted rivers and streams'.

In addition to addressing social and national development needs the


service programmes have had other benefits for students, higher
education institutions and nations as a whole. For example in Nigeria an
opinion survey conducted in 1980 by the planning and evaluation
division of the National Youth Service Corps directorate showed that
80% of participants felt it was an opportunity to get to know more about
other people and regions. The survey also showed that continued
interaction and improved knowledge between corps members and host
communities diminished prejudice, biases and scepticism, thereby
fostering better understanding between diverse groups and promoting
national integration. The Botswana national service scheme is also said to
have had a `marked impact on national integration'.

In Indonesia Kulaih Kerja Nyata, which means `learning through real


work', is reported to have benefited participants. Educators and officials
tend to describe its main outcomes as character building for students.
They also talk about improving the motivation of students to make
constructive contributions to Indonesia. According to Eberly and
Sherraden, many thousands of students have `experienced the
satisfaction of improving life in a village and the growth in character
and understanding that comes from living with rural families. Also
the emphasis on linking upwardly mobile young people with the
villages has been generally successful.'

Programme descriptions also suggest that students gain professional


skills, work experience and civic skills and knowledge during
community service. In the case of university-managed and
administered service the experience is very uneven and depends on
faculty and institutional organisation.

The voluntary programmes in Israel and the USA also report


benefits for participants. Eberly and Sherraden report that Perach
`provides good training for students, and for some, excellent pre-
career experience'. The AmeriCorps programme claims that
participants not only assist individuals and communities but `gain
valuable experience, specialised training and life skills'.

Constraints

In addition to resistance by students, a number of service


programmes experienced the following problems:

• Corruption in programme administration and financing;

• Insufficient funds;

• Insufficient placements for effective service;

• Ineffective supervision;

• A wide variety of quality and programme design across higher


education institutions in the same country;

• Unemployment resulted in students benefiting rather than the


programmes exacting payment; and

• The use of programmes for political favours and patronage.

Ghana: Macroeconomic difficulties in the 1980s, combined with a


rapid increase in the supply of graduates, changed the labour market
situation.
In a era of unemployment, the programme actually provided additional
benefit to students rather than exacting `payment'.

Nepal: The programme became politically controversial with students


becoming tools for newly emerging political parties and being regarded
by government as a disruptive force. In 1980 the programme was
abandoned, but in the early 1990s the government was considering
reinstating it.

Costa Rica: Constraints include a lack of supervision, difficulty in


diagnosing available resources and priorities, and a lack of motivation
among students. Furthermore, the service programme was not included
in the study plan and suffered from a lack of finance. It was found that
the 300 hours allocated were insufficient to achieve results. Students were
sometimes unprepared, did not identify with the community problem
and lacked the necessary methodological skills to apply knowledge in the
community. As part of planned reforms in programme design, students
began to study particular problems from 1988 and projects were to be
tied to these studies.

Indonesia: Funding has been a major problem, and government support


will be forthcoming only if there is an increase in oil revenues or rapid
economic growth.

There was also substantial opposition to the programme with some


opponents wanting it stopped, and others preferring to see a service
programme conducted independently of the university because they felt it
interfered too much with students' academic programmes. The two-
month service period was an uneasy compromise between these views
and had several drawbacks: it diminished the impact on the student and
on village development, and heightened the cost per month of service.

Nigeria: The National Youth Service Corps had difficulty recruiting and
retaining the right calibre of staff and suffered from financial constraints.
Students were resistant to serving in places far from home. The
programme also suffered from a lack of permanent orientation camps, a
lack of accommodation, the underutilisation of professional skills, and a
lack of employment prospects for discharged members. The youth
service corps now urges members to create their own employment.
Botswana: `Lack of acceptability by urban people' seems to be a
constraint, as is the fact that the number of school leavers exceeds the
capacity to absorb them into national development activities.

Mexico: Constraints in this country include the following:

• Limited and irregular funding;

• Little concrete knowledge about the programme among the public;

• Except for medicine, little service to the rural poor. This issue is
related to resources: without stipends, students cannot afford to go
to the countryside. Outside medicine, education, architecture and
social work, however, it does not generally serve the urban poor
either;

• Sometimes limited commitment by students, in part because they


receive poor information, poor choices of service placements, and
inadequate supervision;

• The autonomy of universities, and schools and departments within


universities, makes regularisation difficult; and

• The programme requires too much paperwork.

Nevertheless the full potential of the programme could be realised if the


commission on social service succeeds in regularising and coordinating
Servicio Social into a coherent national programme applied to all
disciplines in all institutions. Already, organisation and coordination has
been improved, leading to greater coherence and stability in the
programme.

Although service in nonmedical fields has not had the same impact as
those in medical fields, it is possible that the successful medical example
might eventually influence the structure and effectiveness of service in
other professions and academic disciplines.
SECTION FOUR

SOUTH AFRICAN PRACTICE IN COMPARISON WITH


INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

Most of the international examples of community service in higher


education have been initiated by government in service of national
development goals. In South Africa most of the service programmes are
initiated within higher education institutions and take place as isolated local
projects.

Of the nine international programmes examined during this research


process, seven were initiated by the governments of their respective
countries (Nigeria, Ghana, Costa Rica, Mexico, Nepal, Indonesia and
Botswana). In all of these, except for Botswana, service was compulsory
and was introduced on a national basis, not through individual line
ministries. Each of these programmes operated in service of national
development priorities. With the exception of Mexico, the programmes
were either guided by a national development framework or formed part of
a long-term national plan for development. Where government was not
driving the programme itself, the framework or plan governed the priorities
and decisions of individual institutions responsible for operating the service
programme. In the case of Mexico service is a widely accepted ideal, deeply
rooted in the communal values of the indigenous population and the
Mexican Revolution. However, the programme is not guided by an
overarching governmental framework and has spiralled into uneven
provision. Two countries introduced service programmes on a voluntary
basis (Israel and the USA). Both were initiated and funded by government
and operate within a national framework although they are locally
coordinated,

In South Africa all the higher education service programmes are initiated
within institutions - either by the institution as a whole, or by individual
faculties or departments, or by stakeholders within the institutions (such
as students and/or staff). The programmes are mostly mission-driven in
that they seek to express the central higher education mission of teaching
and research in new, community-based contexts. Some of the programmes
are needs-related in that they shape extension services in relation to
community needs, or take community needs as the reference point to
influence teaching and research. Three of the South African programmes
are needs-driven: Sasvo, Shawco and Uskor aim to cater directly for
specific needs of the communities in which they operate, regardless of
whether or not this fosters the higher education mission.

Consequently, the South African programmes cannot be said to be


operating within a national development framework. Although the
reconstruction and development programme was intended to set out such a
national framework, it has fallen away as a key strategy both as a result of
the national settlement and because government has concentrated on other
priorities such as the growth, employment and redistribution (Gear)
strategy. The service programmes in higher education are thus operating as
disparate activities which are locally focused and do not relate
systematically to national development priorities.

The international programmes generally aim far national outreach. They


may be organised by government or may devolve implementation to higher
education institutions. By contrast, South African programmes are
currently institution-based and locally focused.

The international examples are organised and managed in different ways,


but are national in their orientation. In some cases government initiates,
organises and supervises the service programmes - either centrally or by
devolving operational responsibility to state secretariats. In other cases
government sets the framework and provides the resources, but leaves the
organisation, management and supervision to a nongovernmental
secretariat or to higher education institutions. This model of devolution
occurs in compulsory and noncompulsory programmes. In the USA, for
example, the Corporation for National Service sets guidelines, chooses
programmes for support and monitors outcomes, but programmes are
locally managed and coordinated.
In South Africa the service programmes in higher education are organised
from the base of individual institutions and tend to be locally focused,
even in cases where the locus of work is some distance away from the
institution itself (eg. the Wits Rural Facility operates in one area in
Mpumalanga while the main campus is in Gauteng).

Given the fragmented nature of the activities in South African higher


education service programmes, a huge leap would be required to move
from the current situation to one in which higher education human
resources (staff and students) could be deployed to address national goals
(eg. skills shortages), as was done in Nigeria, Indonesia, Ghana or Nepal,
for instance. The following factors are important in this regard:

• South Africa's only comprehensive experience of national service


has been the South African Defence Force which conscripted white
youth into the army in service of unjust causes under apartheid.
This experience has discredited the idea of national conscription
and has left a legacy whereby national service is viewed with
suspicion. Within this context the notion of `academic conscription'
generates considerable resistance among student and youth
organisations, despite calls that community service be made
compulsory for all students. In South Africa there may be
considerable resistance to an authoritarian system in which young
people are required to work for stipends or low wages.
Furthermore, participants are likely to want a choice in terms of
where they work and how far away from their families they are
likely to be placed. A culture of service would need to develop
within the country whereby members of the public recognise the
value of student and staff deployment into underserved areas, and
the participants come to accept that despite the inconveniences,
there is merit in making a social contribution through service;

• Deployment into low-skill tasks regardless of the students' field of


study may meet resistance on two grounds. First, many students do
not want to do domestic or manual work because of the stigma
attached to such activities. Second, high levels of unemployment in
South Africa create a dilemma for decision-makers: do they deploy
students into programmes that clear alien vegetation or undertake
labour-based construction, pay them and thereby support students
in need of
financial aid, or do they offer these opportunities to unemployed
people in local communities?

• A great deal of planning, coordination and, above all, financing


would be required to achieve the critical mass necessary for service
activities to constitute a coherent effort designed to achieve national
development goals.

The impact of service programmes is difficult to quantify both in the


international examples and in South Africa. Where substantial impact is
claimed in other countries, it seems to have been achieved through a
number of strategies.

Although the impact analysis of programmes in the nine countries


outside South Africa should be treated with some caution, the literature
suggests that the use of service for national development has had
benefits. Examples include the following: the National Youth Service
Corps in Nigeria made it possible for some school systems around the
country to have a regular supply of trained teachers and provided the
catalyst for realising the universal primary education goals of the mid-
1970s. Through the national service development programme of Nepal,
school enrolments rose sharply, and literacy levels and living conditions
improved. The Nepalese programme also served as an important
feedback mechanism for university planners and teachers, and for
government in respect of rural needs. In Botswana the Tirelo Setshaba
programme had a `marked impact on education' as students acted as
teacher aides and enabled untrained teachers to go for training.

Some of the countries recognised the impact of the programmes in


terms of the benefits to participants. For example, educators and
officials in Indonesia describe the main outcomes of the Kulaih Kerja
Nyata programme as character building for the students and increasing
their motivation to contribute constructively to Indonesia. Benefits also
accrued to other stakeholders: the governments of these countries were
credited with improving the lives of their citizens; the higher education
staff benefited from new research ideas and projects, research assistance
rendered by participating students, exposure to unfamiliar conditions,
and were able to adjust their curricula and teaching methodologies on
the
basis of their involvement in the service programmes. In some cases the
students were paid for participating (although in many cases the stipends
were well below the minimum wage and their work did not constitute
employment); they were able to obtain their degrees by virtue of having
participated in the service programme; they also gained a number of other
benefits such as work experience, maturity, professional knowledge and
skills; and learnt to work with people who live in different circumstances
(eg. in villages).

In these and other examples, government provided the framework,


funding and sometimes the actual plan within which the service
programmes functioned. Governments have also used incentives and
penalties to increase participation: in the USA and Israel, participation is
voluntary and students earn financial credit towards tuition in exchange
for participating in the service programmes. Both countries experience
high levels of employment and can afford to provide payment incentives
for student participation. In the case of the countries where service is
compulsory, the penalties for nonparticipation have been severe: in
Indonesia, Nepal and Costa Rica, service is a requirement for graduation
and students are not able to obtain their degrees without serving the
required time. In Nigeria students graduate, but cannot be employed
without having done the requisite national service.

In South Africa the research done for this project has not been able to
quantify the impact which the services described are having on the scale of
need. More research is required on how, as a result of these interventions,
conditions are changing in the communities concerned. As pointed out
earlier in this paper, the impression given by the available information is
that the impact is small in relation to the enormous need in most South
African communities. The conclusion from this research is that students,
staff and in some cases the institutions are the major beneficiaries of the
service programmes and that the benefits for communities flow out of
these, but that their impact cannot be quantified at present.
The relationship between the scale of a service programme and its impact
may depend on the nature of the need being addressed.

Core issues arising in the international and South African case studies are
the following:

• Is impact is increased by virtue of increasing the number of people


involved in the service programme?

• Is impact increased through the strategic matching of human


resources and skill to the needs identified?

• Or is impact a function of the appropriate solution to the problem


identified?

In some cases it would appear that the combination of national


mobilisation and development objectives was the reason for the large
developmental changes referred to above. At the same time (as was
mentioned earlier), the studies do not comment on the quality of the
impact. For example, the mobilisation of large numbers often makes it
difficult to match deployment with the field of study in which students
and staff are involved, and this may lead to wastage or, in some cases,
reduced impact. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that there are some
countries using this model which could not always place all eligible
candidates. Botswana, Indonesia, Mexico and Nigeria had difficulty
placing all candidates, either because of insufficient places being available
or because the programmes did not have the financial resources or
sufficient organisation to maximise the placements. In some instances it
would also seem that the strategy of national mobilisation was inefficient:
in the case of Mexico in 1987/88 the potential pool of students was 400
000, of whom 150 000 participated in service projects. While the number
of participants was less than half the potential number, a substantial
number of people's efforts were directed towards service provision.
However, an assessment of the same programme notes that it was in the
field of medicine that the greatest impact was made, and this would have
been a function of matching the skills of senior medical students with the
needs of the communities for health care.

Our tentative conclusion here is that the relationship between scale and
impact may in fact be a function of the nature of the need and the
strategies
required to meet it. If the need requires labour-based activity, then large
numbers may make a big difference, eg. in the case of immunising large
numbers of children against diseases. If meeting the need requires applying
skill, technology and specialist knowledge then the numbers are likely to
be less important than matching the available human resources
strategically with the task. Finally, the need may best be met by means of
an appropriate solution: in the case of the University of the Western Cape
a small number of students working as library assistants were able to make
a huge impact on the functioning of the institution by keeping the library
open between 8pm and 10pm.

An additional factor concerns the amount of time available for service.


The impact of a service programme may be more substantial if skilled
personnel have more time (eg. 9 or 12 months) in which to deliver the
programme. Where it is not necessary to match skill with need, a wide
variety of short-term projects may yield the desired outcome.

Government support for community service is closely related to its


economic strength.

Most of the service programmes in the international survey were financed


by government- even those managed and administered by higher
education institutions. However, government support for these
programmes has been considerably influenced by changes in the economy:
in most cases government support was reduced over the years and in two
cases (Indonesia and Ghana) dried up altogether. Where countries could
no longer afford to maintain national service programmes, the
programmes collapsed or were reduced to small, institution-based
operations. Funding partnerships were noted in only two cases: the
Nepalese government received some supplementary support from the
United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) for its national service scheme,
while the AmeriCorps programme funding is derived not only from the
federal government, but also from the corporate sector and private
foundations in the USA.

The extent to which programmes reach the poorest communities is also a


function of the funds available: the costs of the Nigerian programme were
raised considerably by the commitment to deploy students to outlying
parts of the country. In the case of Costa Rica, the requirement that 75%
of programme funds come from the communities themselves limited the
outreach of the programme to those communities that could afford to part
with these resources.

The international case studies suggest that nowhere did community service
constitute a form of employment for students. In most cases students were
paid below the minimum wage and in some cases they received no
payment at all. In one case students were not remunerated and had to
meet their own expenses (eg. transport costs), with the result that they
were contributing financially to the programme in which they were
required to serve.

The programmes in Israel and the USA relate payment for participation to
tuition cost. In these cases the costs to government may be higher per
participant than in other countries, and it is thus not surprising that in
both Israel and the USA the issue of cost-benefit is one which informs the
assessment of impact.

In South Africa none of the programmes surveyed were receiving


government support. It appears that two programmes (Sasvo and Shawco)
might have accessed reconstruction and development programme funding
for aspects of their programmes (such as school rebuilding and primary
school nutrition projects), but this could not be confirmed. The South
African programmes ate thus heavily dependent on external funding from
companies and foundations inside the country; and from support from
foreign donors. In some cases the higher education institutions contribute
to funding, but very few programmes are able to rely entirely on financial
support from their institution.

Since government is unlikely to have the funds to launch a large-scale


national service programme, it must be envisaged that for the foreseeable
future institutions will have to depend on leveraging funding from the
private sector, from donors, and possibly from line ministries for specific
human resource development programmes (see introduction). This is likely
to make coordination and coherence more difficult to achieve since it
places continued responsibility for programme design and resourcing at
the level of individual institutions. Nevertheless it was suggested during
the course of the research that the Council on Higher Education could
play a role in increasing coherence in the institutional efforts towards
community service programmes, and that regional cooperation between
institutions could help to maximise the impact of scarce resources.

The impact of community service on higher education curricula is greater in


South Africa than in other countries.

In four of the countries surveyed (Mexico, Nepal, Costa Rica and


Indonesia) the service programmes have some relationship with the
academic programme in which students participate, but in a number of
cases the academic credit gained was for participation in its own right
rather than for the match between the service performed and the impact
on the student's field of study. In general it would seem that the
programmes tend to concentrate on deploying large numbers of
students, regardless of whether their skills and fields of study are
appropriate for the tasks performed.

In South Africa a much closer relationship between community service


and fields of study is developing. This is being fostered by the push for
the transformation of higher education, and by the need to prepare
students adequately for new occupations and for the world of work. The
programmes surveyed show that in a number of institutions serious
attempts are being made to link curricula more meaningfully with
conditions in communities off campus and that extension/outreach and
curriculum-related programmes are feeding back into curriculum design.
SECTION FIVE

NATIONAL SERVICE IN SOUTH AFRICA: FROM PAST


EXPERIENCE TO CURRENT PROPOSALS

The concept of `national service' is a contested one in the South African


context. Under apartheid the government's use of the military to subjugate

South Africans and to destabilise the southern African region has left a
close association between the term `national service' and the effects of
apartheid. In the 1990s, with the advent of democracy in South Africa,
attempts were made within sections of civil society to give the term a new
meaning which was more synergistic with the aims of the new
dispensation. This section examines briefly how the term `national service'
has evolved in recent years in the South African context, and what goals
are being articulated in proposals for national community service.

The South African Defence Force

For most South Africans the most recent and enduring experience of
national service is that which was practised under apartheid. The South
African Defence Force conscripted young white men into the army to
defend unjust causes inside and outside South Africa. The periods of
service varied (first for nine months and then for longer periods, up to two
years), and soldiers were paid a stipend for the period they spent in
uniform. To all intents and purposes the national servicemen were used for
narrow political purposes in actions frequently hidden from the public eye.
`National service' was a compulsory national programme, driven by central
government (not the function of a specific line ministry), and is thus
associated in the minds of many South Africans with repressive actions and
militaristic tendencies. The experience has discredited the idea of national
conscription and has left a legacy in which the concept of a centrally driven
national service is viewed with suspicion by many South Africans.
The National Youth Service Initiative

Following the prominent role played by young black people in mass


mobilisation during the 1970s and 1980s, the 1990s saw a second phase in
the organisation of young people. This latter period sought to address the
condition of the youth as a group of people alienated from society and in
particular need of support and attention if they were to be reintegrated into
the civic, educational and economic mainstream. At its launch in 1993 the
National Youth Development Forum drew support not only from more
than 100 youth organisations, but also from a range of other stakeholders -
sporting bodies, teacher organisations, trade unions and business
associations. In the months leading up to the launch, an intensive study
sought to design a programme through which the education, training and
development needs of young people could be met in conjunction with their
productive involvement in service initiatives designed to contribute to
national reconstruction and development. First thought of as a `national
youth service corps', the programme was launched as the National Youth
Service Initiative, and was intended to function as the flagship of the
National Youth Development Forum.

The National Youth Service Initiative is an important development in the


continuum along which the concept of national service has evolved in
South Africa in recent years. At the outset the initiative sought to distance
itself from the past experiences of national service under apartheid. It did
this by locating itself squarely within the national reconstruction and
development agenda, by introducing the notion of community service (as
opposed to national service) and by rejecting any association with the
military. In fact the rejection of the term `national youth service corps' was
not only an expression of antipathy towards militaristic terminology; it was
a vitally important shift in emphasis in development terms. `The original
approach suggested a process of forming young people into orderly groups
and then finding tasks for them to do. The present approach focuses on
identifying needs and opportunities and mobilising young people to
respond to and be engaged in meeting those needs.’ 7

7A National Youth Service Initiative in South Africa. Report by the technical team under
the leadership of Bob Tucker to the national working group of the National Youth
Development Forum. September 1993, p.4.
The essence of the National Youth Service Initiative's approach was
twofold: to render service through projects and simultaneously to educate,
train and develop the young participants by means of a core curriculum.
Here then, in 1993, was the first articulation of the relationship between
service and learning in the South African context and it was occurring
outside the context of structured education provision. The programme
stressed the need to balance implementability, scale, the engagement of
youth, and the delivery of a quality programme for the benefit both of the
young participants and for the development of the communities concerned.
The sectors that the planning team identified for this purpose were the
following: immediate rehabilitation of urban and rural infrastructure; long-
term urban infrastructure and housing; education and training; rural
development and rural environmental conservation; health; social services;
and peace service.

The programme had some of the hallmarks of those national service


programmes which were launched in other countries (as detailed in section 4
above) - service periods of six months to two years and a daily stipend paid
for work done. There were also important differences in design:
participation was to be voluntary and young people would be encouraged to
participate in projects in the communities in which they lived. The greatest
difference, however, lay in the fact that this programme was being launched
from a civil society base, not by government, although close interaction and
partnerships with government at both national and local level were
envisaged, and it was hoped that on the basis of visible results, government
would in fact earmark financial support for the scheme.

Ultimately the collapse of the National Youth Development Forum in June


1995 meant that the National Youth Service Initiative experience was short-
lived. Despite shaky beginnings (partly as a consequence of inexperienced
management and insecure funding, as well as difficulty in striking
sustainable partnerships in the transitional dispensation), a brief assessment
of the early stages of the programme 8 suggests that the initiative did
generate projects which, with the help of government, may have been
sustainable. It also noted that the programme had strong partnership

8Gardner Khumalo et al: Youth Development Policy: Prospects and Pitfall,. Research
report by the Centre for Policy Studies, commissioned by the petitions and public
participation committee of the Gauteng legislature, 1 December 1995, pp. 55-G3.
component of the traditional training through articles: `Internship would
be acceptable, but not as a replacement to articles.... There would not be
enough training or exposure of attorneys to legal practices ... there is a
problem of black graduates not getting articles, but that could be sorted
out by a change of attitude of law firms.’11

These two responses suggest that the notion of service needs to be


disentangled from two other issues: jobs for black law graduates, and
appropriate training. The question that arises is who the prime
beneficiaries of the scheme will be: the new graduates, the broader
society or the specific communities in which the interns work? A
complicating factor concerns the value of the service to be offered by the
new graduates: responses to the proposal for law internship as well as to
Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma's proposal for medical internship have
pointed to the need for supervision of new graduates if they are to render
a valuable service to the public, and to the costs thereof.

Nevertheless, one factor that strengthens the motivation for the proposal
is that many of the professions are not geared towards steering newly
qualified professionals towards public service. Consequently, there are
still relatively few opportunities during their training, or on graduation,
for young professionals to be exposed to new career opportunities in
development work. Where such opportunities have been made available,
the research found a number of cases in which students switched career
paths to public service work after having been exposed to practising in a
development context. 12

One of the significant aspects of the law proposal is that it originated in


civil society rather than being initiated by government. While
government clearly supports the proposal, the involvement of civil
society as initiator is an important step in changing the orientation of the
public, and professionals among them, towards being more supportive of
the notion of rendering service as part of the national effort of
reconstruction and development.

11Jimmy Yesiko, Western Cape director of the Black Lawyers' Association as quoted in
the Mail and Guardian, 1-7 August 1997.

12Some of the most striking examples of this phenomenon come from the University of
Natal in Pietermaritzburg where, on the basis of exposure to development work during
their undergraduate careers, graduates in a range of fields switched to public interest
work following their practica served in the private sector.
SECTION SIX

COMMUNITY SERVICE AND THE CHALLENGES FACING


HIGHER EDUCATION

The higher education sector in South Africa has been the focus of
intensive deliberation regarding its role in the growth and development of
the country. In August 1997 the Cabinet adopted the White Paper on
Higher Education13 which identifies at least four major deficiencies in
higher education:

• The inequitable distribution of access and opportunity: higher


education is characterised by gross inequalities of access for students
and staff along lines of race, class, gender and geography;

• The inadequate response by higher education to the development


needs of society: there is a serious mismatch between the output of
higher education and the needs of a modernising economy;

• Higher education has failed to lay the foundations for a critical civil
society: it has failed to contribute to the socialisation of enlightened,
responsible and constructively critical citizens, and has not actively
encouraged individuals to make commitments to common societal
goals; and

• Inappropriate policies and practices in teaching and research: in many


parts of the higher education system teaching, learning and research
practices and policies favour academic insularity and inhibit the
contribution that higher education can make to local, regional and
national development needs in South Africa.

13
Department of Education, A Programme for the Transformation of Higher Education
ion, Pretoria, July 1997. Government Gazette, vol 386, no 18207.
The transformation strategy spelled out in the White Paper is designed to
produce a higher education system in South Africa in which these
deficiencies are addressed. The strategy includes the following
components:

Equitable participation

The White Paper provides the basis for policies designed to ensure that
the higher education system over time reflects the demographic realities
of the broader SA society. These will have to include provision for
articulation and transfer between the different structures and sectors of
the higher education system, and provision for support for those whose
private or family resources prevent them gaining access to higher
education.

Responsiveness

According to the White Paper, learning programmes, rather than


institutions, should be the basic building blocks of the South African
higher education system. It aims to diversify curricula with a view to
removing obstacles which unnecessarily limit the access of learners to
higher education; to develop a flexible learning system; to improve the
responsiveness of the higher education system to national and provincial
needs; to enhance the personal development of learners in the system;
and to loosen the grip which single academic disciplines have on higher
education qualifications in SA.

Partnerships

The White Paper stresses that major changes are required in the
structures, values and culture of higher education governance in South
Africa, and argues for the adoption of partnerships between government
and civil society organisations through which the challenges of a modern
society can be met. The civil society groupings involved in these
partnerships should include higher education institutions, organised
business, commerce and labour, and other stakeholders such as staff and
student organisations.
Community service in higher education policy

The White Paper makes some specific references to the role of community
service within the overarching task of transforming higher education:

• One of the national goals of the higher education sector is cited as being
`to promote and develop social responsibility and awareness among
students of the role of higher education in social and economic
development through community service programmes ; 14

• At institutional level, the goals include `to demonstrate social


responsibility of institutions and their commitment to the common good
by making available expertise and infrastructure for community service
programmes; 15 and

• `The ministry is highly receptive to the grouting interest in community


service programmes for students, to harness the social commitment and
energy of young people to the needs of the reconstruction and
development programme, and as a potential component of the national
student financial aid scheme. The ministry will consult the Council for
Higher Education and the National Youth Commission on this matter.
In principle, the ministry will encourage suitable feasibility studies and
pilot programmes which explore the potential of community service:

? to answer the call of young people for constructive social


engagement;

? to enhance the culture of learning, teaching and service in


higher education; and

? to relieve some of the financial burden of study at this


level.’ 16

These references suggest that community service is regarded as a vehicle for


developing a stronger sense of social commitment in students and for
encouraging a sense of service within the higher education institutions
(thereby increasing their responsiveness to community need). They also
suggest that community service performed in lieu of payment may help to
alleviate students' financial need. The policy thus seems to be looking to the
concept of community service as a means of reorientating students

14Department of Education, op cit, section 1.27(8).


15Ibis,section 1.28(5).
16Ibid section 2.36.
and higher education institutions towards a stronger public service outlook.
The question that arises is who the primary beneficiaries are likely to be.
The formulation suggests that students and the institutions are likely to be
the prime beneficiaries of community service programmes and that care
would need to be taken to ensure that such benefit is not accrued at the
community's expense.17

The challenge of responsiveness

How do these social and developmental goals fit with the higher education
mission? A limited survey of higher education institution mission
statements was undertaken during the research process. It found that at the
core of most of the mission statements is a commitment to quality
teaching, scholarship and research which is responsive to the
developmental needs of individuals and society at large. Some refer to
higher education's service to society and its contribution towards the
reconstruction and development processes in South Africa. Others
emphasise higher education's role in addressing the challenges facing
society in general. The White Paper's references to community service are
broadly consonant with the mission statements emanating from various
higher education institutions.

What, then, are the distinctive ways in which higher education institutions
could give expression to this aspect of their mission? There appear to be
two broad approaches, neither of which see service delivery as a distinctive
function of higher education, except when it is part of the training of
students (for example, in law or in the health sciences):

• One locates teaching and research at the core of the mission and
therefore responds to societal needs through these functions. In this way
responsiveness to societal needs can be integrated into the mainstream
activities of higher education, with the potential to transform
relationships between higher education and society; and

• The alternative approach sees community service as a distinctive, third


leg of higher education's mission. This suggests that responsiveness to
societal needs might become an add-on activity, peripheral to the core
business of teaching and research.

17The White Paper does not define the term `community', nor does it suggest how the
service programmes could be of direct benefit to the wider community.
The analysis of South African case studies in section 3 shows that
institutions are already seeking to respond to the social and developmental
imperatives within communities, but that these efforts are still sporadic and
do not yet constitute the critical mass necessary to make a significant impact
on the relationships between higher education and society. The research
process nevertheless identified a number of positive factors which have
considerable potential to support the growth of a culture of service in this
new environment:

• The higher education policy framework will facilitate coordination


and partnership between institutions. For example, regional
consortia of higher education institutions do not necessarily work
cooperatively to share their experience and scarce resources in
respect of new projects such as service learning. The Council for
Higher Education will be an important entity in driving the process
whereby the necessary resources, will and capacity can be placed
behind curriculum transformation and the development of a service
ethic;

• Although many institutions are struggling with limited capacity and


are facing the challenges of transformation on all fronts
simultaneously, the research shows that the strategic application of
small amounts of resources can be enormously influential in
strengthening the pockets of change which do exist within
institutions;

• Professional bodies are likely to play an important role in increasing


the momentum for curriculum change and pushing for greater
institutional responsiveness to economic and social development
needs;

• Although there has traditionally been a reluctance in certain


disciplines to pay attention to the development of transferable skills,
the introduction of outcomes-based education in the national
education system is likely to focus more on achieving applied
competences in all disciplines; and

• The South African Qualifications Authority's role in quality


assurance is likely to be very influential in achieving transferable skills
which can be reinforced and augmented by any form of work
experience.
Community service and financial aid

The centrality of financial aid in achieving the goals of massifying access to


higher education is clear from virtually all the documentation consulted
throughout this research process. However, a range of differentiated funding
strategies will be required if the massive need for financial assistance is to be
met.

The White Paper takes the following position:

`Annual budgetary allocations are only one element in a complex equation, and the
ministry accepts that a multifaceted approach to student financial aid is essential. A
sustainable long-term scheme ¢rill include loans and bursaries, as the present scheme does,
and may well include scholarships to reward academic excellence, and student and
community self-reliance programmes, such as workstudy and community service. The
ministry is actively supporting an investigation into there alternatives.’ 18

A survey conducted in 1995 for the National Commission on Higher


Education on student financial aid in South Africa estimated that 70 000
students in the universities and technikons needed financial support. This
figure is now estimated to be 80 000. If the college sector is added to this, the
figure rises to more than 100 000. The 1995 study projected the financial
need at R900m for 1996. In 1997/98 it is closer to R1 000m (R1 bn). 19

The funding available for student support comes from a range of sources and
has the following profile:
Higher education institutions R220m20
Government 300m
Tertiary Education Fund of South Africa (Tefsa) 60m
Family contributions 150m
Total 730m

18Department of Education, A Programme for the Transformation of Higher Education,


Pretoria, July 1997.

19Thisand the following information was gained from a discussion with Prof Ian Bunting
and others at the University of Cape Town during the course of the research process.

20This includes private sector and other donations secured by institutions.


If the need is estimated at Rl 000m in 1997, there is thus a shortfall of about
R270m. From the students' perspective, Tefsa funding covers only a part of
their student fees (eg. at some institutions in 1996/97 students may each owe
R20 000, while Tefsa is able to provide only about R8 000 a student) leaving
each student with a considerable shortfall. As a result, most higher education
institutions are carrying high levels of student debt. By absorbing student
debt they are eating into their funding derived annually from government and
donors, and are unable to improve or expand the system.

Government's contribution to the national student financial aid scheme is


likely to be made annually, but at this stage it is not clear whether the
contribution is likely to increase in size, whether it will form part of the
higher education budget, or whether it will be drawn from resources outside
this budget. What is clear is that the national student financial aid scheme is
unlikely to be augmented through endowments-either from government or
the private sector.

Given the interest that the White Paper on Higher Education takes in
community service as one option for financial aid, what possibilities are there
for shaping service programmes in ways that will generate the financial
resources needed by higher education students?

Options for linking service and financial aid

In January 1995 a national conference was held on student financing in


higher education. Since then, and over the past two years, a number of
commentators have identified community service as a mechanism that can
expand financial aid resources to higher education students. For example, Dr
Pundy Pillay wrote that `community service is another cost-recovery measure
that can be usefully considered. It could move governments beyond explicitly
financial instruments to exact payment from graduates in areas of high social
value, as a means of partially paying off the costs of their higher education.
In many countries, including South Africa, there are serious personnel
shortages particularly in such areas as rural health care and teaching.
Graduates are usually unwilling to perform these tasks in rural areas, at least,
in the numbers that society deems necessary. A partial solution is to require
recent graduates to perform a
period of national service in one of these socially productive employment
areas, perhaps for two years after graduation as a form of partial repayment
for their educadon.'21

Another contributor, Bronwyn Levy, 22 commented that `community service


schemes allow graduates to provide a service to society in areas of value as a
way of paying for part of the costs of higher education. These schemes have
advantages in that they could direct graduates into areas of critical need
where there is an undersupply of person power'.

Dr Stuart Saunders23 cites Albrecht and Ziderman who point out that
national service can be justified by the fact that it is society as a whole,
through taxation, that subsidises higher education and that the graduate gets
a personal gain which justifies repayment in kind through service to society
As has been shown elsewhere in this paper, a national service scheme may
take place after graduation or may coincide with undergraduate study.
Repayment in kind is usually separated completely from institutional finances
or may occasionally directly benefit the financial position of the higher
education institution, for example when students are employed by the
institution in workstudy arrangements such as those outlined in section 3. In
some instances, there is direct payment to students in lieu of tuition or living
support such as in the case of the programmes in the Western Cape and
KwaZulu-Natal (see section 3).

Graduates enrolled in service programmes can repay their debts to society in


one of two ways: If the graduates are paid below market wage levels in
certain posts, for example in the civil service, then the differential between
the regular wage and their earnings constitutes a repayment for subsidised
higher education. For example, in Botswana the students are paid a wage 5%
below normal. Alternatively, students can be employed at market rates, but in
posts that are important to society and cannot be filled, for example, teachers
and doctors in rural areas. 24

21
Pundy Pillay, 1995: `Student Financing in Higher Education: Funding and Implementing a
National Loan Scheme in South Africa' in Higher Eduradon Financing Conference:
Background Reading and Conference Papers, January 1995, Ministry of National Education,
Pretoria.
22
Bronwyn Levy, 1995: `Student Loan Programmes - the International Experience', ibid, p.
21 of her paper.
23
Dr Smart Saunders was consulted by the research team in July 1997 on his current research
into financial aid options for higher education.
If national service were to be linked to financial aid, a number of issues would
need to be addressed in terms of programme design. These include the
possibility that students can `buy out' at the outset by paying higher tuition
fees. This might be socially divisive and the programmes would lose much of
their potential to generate individual benefits in relation to personal
development. Furthermore, unless there is a ma tch between the fields of
study like engineering and the service tasks required, graduates may not be
best used in terms of society's needs and the cost-benefit may ultimately not
be realised.

In the context of transforming higher education in South Africa, there are two
key questions that need to be addressed: Firstly, how could the scheme ease
the funding needed for the national student financial aid scheme and
secondly, how could it be organised and administered? Graduates will need to
be paid if they are going to work for one, two or three years in a community
service programme. Saunders argues that the only way in which this can be of
financial benefit to government is if there are vacant posts which cannot be
filled and which are already funded, or if the students work for less than the
going rate. Although neither of these strategies would help the national
student financial aid scheme recover its debt and maintain its capital base, it is
possible that this approach could inform specific schemes for specific sectors.

For example, all medical students who require financial assistance could
use a separate scheme rather than turning to the national scheme to cover
their education costs. In return, they could be required to work in
government posts (national or provincial) for a period of time. The
proposal that from 1998 medical graduates would have to do one or two

24
Government departments have cited severe personnel shortages in key areas of
health, social welfare, education and legal assistance. In some departments there is not
so much a net shortage of personnel as a maldistribution across geographic areas. For
example, there is an oversupply of teachers in some provinces while there are chronic
shortages of teachers in rural areas in the Northern Province and parts of KwaZulu-
Natal. In the field of health there is one doctor for every 700 citizens in some provinces
while in the Eastern Cape there is one doctor for every 4 000 residents. The Eastern
Cape NIEC for Health and Welfare Services reported in April 1997 that only 38 640
posts of the 52 100 in the sector were filled. She said that some backlogs were critical
and in some cases `there was not a single doctor in an isolated rural hospital, no
pharmacist in big ones, no social worker to visit an abused child'. The national
Department of Welfare also reports widespread backlogs in providing services.
years compulsory service as a condition of their registration as medical
practitioners has already been discussed. Since this is regarded as part of
their training by the Interim South African Medical and Dental Council,
it might be necessary to allow medical graduates to get the value of two
years' financial aid credited to them for each additional year of national
service after their compulsory two years. In other words, a student who
had received loans for all six years of his/her study could then do two
years compulsory service as would all other medical graduates, and
another three years to pay off his/her student debt. These graduates
could be allowed the option of buying out from the last three years, by
refunding the agency in full with interest, which would mean that there
would be no loss to the financial strength of that scheme.

If the scheme were to be administered by the national Department of


Health, then graduates could be required to do their additional national
service anywhere in the country. If the scheme were to be run by the
provinces, graduates could be required to undertake the service in those
provinces. Another possibility is for all students in a particular province
who want loans to undertake medical studies anywhere in the country,
being required to obtain the loans from their own provincial Department
of Health, and to work subsequently for that department.

To what extent could this approach ease the pressure on the national
student financial aid scheme? If 5 000 medical students each take loans
equivalent to R10 000 a year for six years, this would amount to R50
million a year or R300 million over six years. Since the current estimate
of funding available from Tefsa in 1997 is R60 million and from
government is R300 million, a reduction of R50 million advanced by
another scheme would, to some extent, ease the pressure on the national
student financial aid scheme.

If this approach proves acceptable to the medical students, it may be


possible to develop an equivalent scheme for lawyers working in the
Department of justice, as well as for accountants and other business
graduates working in the Department of Finance and elsewhere in the
civil service, etc. In the field of teaching this approach is already well-
established: for many years colleges of education have required in-service
work in return for bursaries.
One major constraint to this approach, however, may be that financial
aid schemes applied to medical, engineering, accounting and teaching
students could potentially weaken a national student financial aid
scheme because their students have the potential to be more reliable
with regard to repayment on graduating into these professions. This
may aggravate the prospects of debt recovery in the national financial
aid scheme even further and may consequently reduce the incentive for
government and private donors to increase support for the national
scheme.

Fostering community commitment

International experience of community service suggests that many


programmes generated increased commitment to community
development and to social development in general. As was pointed out
in section 4, an opinion survey conducted in 1980 by the Nigerian
planning and evaluation division of the National Youth Service Corps
directorate showed that 80% of participants felt it provided an
opportunity to improve their knowledge of other peoples and regions.
The survey also showed that continued interaction and improved
knowledge between corps members and host communities diminished
prejudice, biases and scepticism, thereby fostering better understanding
between diverse groups and contributing to national integration. The
Botswana national service scheme is also said to have had a `marked
impact on national integration'.

In Indonesia, Kulaih Kerja Nyata is reported to have benefited


participants. Educators and officials describe its main outcomes as
building character in the students and improving their motivation to
contribute constructively to Indonesia. According to Eberly and
Sherraden, many thousands of students have `experienced the
satisfaction of improving life in a village and the growth in character
and understanding that comes from living with rural families. Also the
emphasis on linking upwardly mobile young people with the villages
has been generally successful.’

In the South African context community service could undoubtedly


contribute substantially to overcoming the deep divisions that exist in
the society, and could in particular assist in closing the huge gap
between higher education institutions and poor communities. The
research suggests that for this to occur, reciprocity and mutual respect
would need to become
the cornerstones of any initiative whereby higher education seeks to
become more responsive to community need. Traditionally many
institutions have viewed communities as laboratories for research and a
one-way relationship has frequently developed. In building reciprocal
relationships, it is essential from the outset that all parties - the
community, the institution and the students - are aware that the
partnership will be of mutual benefit to them. Without this it is unlikely
that the interaction will be a success. Experience in other countries
suggests that if the relationship starts on this basis and the commitments
are upheld, the relationship grows and far exceeds what was originally
anticipated. It may even extend to formal courses being offered by the
institution to the benefit of the communities, and research programmes
being related to challenging and original problems existing within the
community.

Developing systemic support for a culture of service

How then can a coherent system be created which integrates the


different functions of higher education with reconstruction and
development? How can a culture of service be encouraged and
extended?

The research suggests that a system accommodating a diversity of service


programmes is likely to have four key features:

• It needs to support a multiplicity of programmes - those that are


integral to curricula as well as those that are entirely voluntary;

• It should be organised at different levels (ie. national, provincial,


local and institutional);

• It should operate within the framework of agreed developmental


priorities; and

• It should encourage institutional and local initiative.

• range of incentives and measures will be required to promote a


culture of service within this diversified model

• The National Qualifications Framework provides the vehicle


through which experiential learning and service learning can be
recognised and accredited. It provides for the recognition of a wide
variety of
learning achievements, irrespective of the sites where learning
takes place;

• Higher education institutions, in partnership with community


organisations, need to take advantage of the provisions in the
present tax dispensation which provide incentives for the
support of educational endeavour;

• The reward, tenure and promotion systems should provide


incentives for staff at higher education institutions to engage in
community service activities. For example, criteria for academic
staff appraisals could include service-related teaching and research
activities;

• Higher education institution admissions criteria could include


evidence of service in the relevant field; and

• Opportunities need to be structured into national and institutional


financial aid schemes whereby higher education students are able
to earn financial credit while contributing to community
development.
CONCLUSIONS

The publication of this concept paper concludes an initial phase of


exploration. The findings are not definitive and further work will be
required before implementation planning can be done. The paper has
highlighted a range of issues which will need to be debated in order to
develop specific proposals for a national community service programme
in South Africa.

As a basis for debate, the paper draws the following conclusions:

l. Community service is a feature of many higher education strategies


which are seeking to respond to societal needs.

Higher education institutions are trying to respond to broad societal


needs in a number of ways. This research project examined those
strategies for responsiveness in which community service plays a part.
In these instances, community service takes different forms such as
workstudy programmes, community outreach and extension services,
and internships. Most of these programmes are closely related to the
mission of the institutions. Some extend the teaching and research
activities into new sites and in some cases they generate services to the
communities as a function of this extension. These responsive strategies
create the opportunity for attracting support - either financial or in-kind
- from public and private sector organisations.

2. The primary beneficiaries in most of these programmes are the


institutional stakeholders: students and staff.

The programmes examined hold greatest benefit for institutional


stakeholders and in each case the benefit takes different forms. For
example, students may benefit from the financial aid they receive in
exchange for their participation in the programme; they also gain work
experience, grow in confidence, and develop specific and transferable
skills. Many programmes teach students to work independently as well as
with other people, and help them acquire life skills such as improved
communication, punctuality and keeping appointments.

Participation in the service programmes provides staff with opportunities


to make their work more relevant to a transforming curriculum and assists
them in generating new knowledge. Some of the programmes offer new
opportunities for research and consultancy, both of which may attract
private funds from new sources, and this ultimately benefits institutions.
In the case of the institutions, some programmes contribute to the
development of institutional capacity (especially in the case of the Western
Cape on-campus workstudy programmes where students undertake core
work within the institution at cheap rates). The programmes also have an
impact on the curriculum, they sensitise academics to the need for skills
development and the need to bridge gaps between institutions and
community activities, and they support affirmative action efforts by
helping the institutions to groom their own academics. The programmes
facilitate systemic institutional change through the development of
partnerships internally and externally.

In examining the benefit of the programmes to the communities they are


intended to serve, the research found that the definition of the community
shifts from one programme to another. In some cases the term
`community' refers to the campus community while in other cases it refers
to poor or disadvantaged communities in a particular local area. From the
available information it would seem that the programmes are in a position
to add value to the communities (as defined in each case), but in the
absence of evaluations, impact assessments and the views of the
communities themselves, it has not been possible to estimate what impact
these services are having on the scale of need. The impression given by
the available information is that the impact is small in comparison to the
enormous need in most South African communities. For example, the
survey of legal aid clinics conducted during this research found that 18
clinics countrywide address less than 1% of the estimated need for legal
aid. In the case of the workstudy programmes, however, the value of the
services rendered to the institutions (which in themselves constitute the
community for the programmes) could be deduced from the fact that
when external funding was reduced, the institutions found the funds from
their own budgets to continue the programmes.

3. Increasing the scale and impact of community service activity


depends on establishing a strategic match between resources and
needs.

Community service programmes, especially volunteer programmes, are


often criticised for operating on a small scale. This limits them to a
marginal role in a context where the scale of need is large in terms of
services required and human resource development.

The research found that the relationship between scale and impact may be
a function of the nature of specific needs and the strategies required to
meet them, and the amount of time available for service. If the need
requires labour-based activity, then large numbers may make a big
difference. If meeting the need requires the application of skill, technology
and specialist knowledge, on the other hand, the numbers are likely to be
less important than establishing a strategic match between the available
human resources and the needs and tasks. Alternatively, the need may best
be met by means of an appropriate solution, such as in the case of on-
campus programmes which increase the capacity of the institutions.

4. If community service is to make a major impact on social need in


South

Africa, a quantum leap is required from the fragmented services provided.


The challenge is to develop a coherent system which accommodates
diversity while putting in place incentives and measures to promote
responsiveness to national development priorities.

The association of national service with compulsory military conscription


under apartheid has led to suspicion of national service programmes.
Recent developments in post-apartheid South Africa are giving new
meaning and form to the notion of national/community service, and
various approaches to community service are being explored both within
civil society and within specific government line ministries. This opens up
possibilities for public/private partnerships in the funding, design and
implementation of community service programmes.
However, South African community service programmes are currently
institution-based and locally focused, and operate as a fragmented set of
activities which do not relate coherently to key social priorities. The
challenge is to develop a coherent system which accommodates
diversity while putting in place the incentives and measures through
which community service programmes can be encouraged and extended.

The research suggests that a system accommodating a diversity of


service programmes is likely to have five features:

• It should operate within the framework of agreed developmental


priorities. Most national service programmes in other countries aim
for national impact and are organised within different kinds of
national frameworks or plans. In South Africa no national
framework exists to improve the responsiveness of community
service programmes to national needs and to assist in their growth
and development;

• It needs to support a multiplicity of programmes - those that are


integral to curricula as well as those that are entirely voluntary;

• It should be organised at different levels (ie. national, provincial,


local and institutional);

• It should encourage institutional and local initiative; and

• Programme design must be informed by a clear understanding of


primary goals and secondary goals as well as by a realistic
understanding of what benefits are likely to be gained by different
participants.

A range of incentives and measures will be required to promote a


culture of service within this diversified model, including:

• The National Qualifications Framework provides the vehicle


through which experiential learning and service learning can be
recognised and accredited. It provides for the recognition of a wide
variety of learning achievements, irrespective of the sites where
learning takes place;

• The reward, tenure and promotion systems should provide


incentives for staff at higher education institutions to engage in
community service activities. For example, criteria for academic staff
appraisals
could include service-related teaching and research activities; colleagues,
peers and journals could be encouraged to acknowledge community-
based work as worthy of recognition so as to develop incentives within
the disciplines for the kind of teaching and research that is done; and

• Opportunities need to be structured into national and institutional


financial aid schemes whereby higher education students are able to
earn financial credit while contributing to community development.

5. External funding is critical for the development and growth of these


initiatives.

The programmes are all dependent on external funding. In some cases


they also receive financial support from the institutions themselves.
This makes their financial base very vulnerable, restricts their scale and
inhibits their growth and impact.

The research suggests that increased funds could be sourced in the


following ways:

• Individual line ministries may be willing to support certain fields of


study, especially where this work includes an element of community
service and relates directly to the new human resource needs
identified in emerging policy;

• There is already considerable corporate interest in contributing to


human resources development to increase the pool of people from
whom companies can recruit. The need for specialised skills has
attracted corporate funding into certain areas of study (through
bursaries combined with internships) and this could be extended to
new fields of study; and

• There is evidence of partnerships between institutions and the


private sector as well as with parastatal organisations, foundations
(both local and overseas) and government departments. This shows
that there is considerable interest among different role players in
supporting programmes that are more responsive to societal needs,
including those in which community service plays a role.
6. Student financial aid strategies could be boosted by community
service.

The scale of the financial aid crisis is such that a diversified financing
strategy will be required to generate funds additional to those already
going into the national student financial aid scheme. Two strategies
have been identified which could supplement a general student
Financial aid scheme. Both involve matching financial aid to the
achievement of specific outcomes - either skills development or service
provision.

• First, financial aid could be channelled to students involved in


community activities as part of their study programme, provided a
partnership could be struck between the institution and public or
private agencies interested in supporting the development of
specific fields of study; and

• Second, loan forgiveness could encourage graduates to extend


their work in public or community service beyond the time
stipulated in the compulsory requirement for professional
registration.

In both cases issues relating to cost-recovery will have to be


investigated. For example, would community service be regarded as an
opportunity for repayment in kind? On this basis a careful cost-benefit
analysis would need to be undertaken. Although neither of these
strategies facilitates the capitalisation and sustainability of the national
student financial aid scheme, they could assist in taking some pressure
off the national scheme. The possibility that they may weaken the
national student financial aid scheme would have to be carefully
weighed.

7. If community service is to become a feature of development work in


South Africa, and higher education in particular is to play its role, the
following issues will require further research in order to inform the
conceptualisation, policy formulation and planning necessary:

• A cost-benefit analysis is required in terms which quantify the in-


kind contribution of community service in South Africa;

• Evaluations and impact assessments need to be conducted of


programmes currently in operation in South Africa;
• The impact of the international case studies should be more
closely analysed in terms of the local contexts in which the
programmes were implemented;

• Establish whether there is a difference in the quality of service


provided by higher education community service programmes
and service provision in the same field by public and private
providers; and

• Explore whether small-scale community service programmes


may offer insights for the improvement of mainstream
provision.
APPNDIX

COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAMMES SURVEYED 1N THE


COURSE OF RESEARCH

This appendix documents the programmes involving participants who


met or spoke to members of the research team during July and August
1997. The appendix is intended to provide a description of how the
programmes operate, what type of programmes they are and how to get
in touch with programmes for further information.

The research was conducted on the basis of conceptual model which was
helpful in providing a foundation for discussion and analysis. The
conceptual model looked at community service programmes in higher
education as a matrix of possibilities: earning opportunities for students,
learning opportunities for students and staff, and opportunities for
developing the notion of community commitment among all institutional
stakeholders. Furthermore, the matrix took a broad view of community
service in relation to a higher education timeframe and looked at
programmes before higher education, during higher education and after
higher education. These categories have informed the analysis in section 2
of the paper.
BEFORE HIGHER EDUCATION

The Joint Enrichment Project's Youth Work Scheme


Community-based
Contact: Penny Foley
The Joint Enrichment Project
P.O. Box 62024, Marshalltown, 2107
Phone: (011) 834-6865
Fax: (011) 834-4955
Email: [email protected]

The Youth Work Scheme is a project of the joint Enrichment Project. The
Youth Work Scheme recruits people aged between 20 and 30 who have not
completed their education and are unemployed. A team of 1530
participants works on community reconstruction projects four days a week
for six months. Participants attend personal development sessions one day
a week. The work scheme ensures that young people gain the discipline and
skills required to return to study or to secure employment, while ensuring
that communities see youth as a positive resource in the reconstruction of
South Africa.

The Youth Work Scheme was initiated in 1995 and now has four teams of
20 students working in the programme. The scheme is initiated in
communities after extensive consultations with community representatives.
Communities are fully briefed on the purpose and scope of the project and
their role in the project is workshopped. Participants in the scheme get
paid a monthly stipend for taking part. If they complete the programme
they receive a bursary which must be used for further education or training,
or to purchase tools or equipment for employment or income generation.

The Joint Enrichment Project has the capacity to expand the Youth Work
Scheme to work extensively in Gauteng. The current capacity of the project
is to run five to six teams of 20 people annually. The Joint Enrichment
Project believes that with the appropriate staff resources that capacity
could be doubled to 12 teams of 20 annually. Expansion depends on
several factors. From December 1996 the Youth Work Scheme works
only with communities that are able to raise money for the materials
necessary for site development. For example, one team is building a church
and the church is paying for the bricks and cement. The Youth Work
Scheme often needs to play an advisory role to the community in assisting
people to raise money for these resources. This aspect of the work has the
most limiting effect on expansion.

The Joint Enrichment Project does not believe that establishing and running
a national programme is the best method of expanding the work scheme.
Rather, it believes that replicating through other structures is preferable.
There is enormous potential to expand the work scheme. This could be
done in several ways such as through local government, provincial
government departments, civic institutions and nongovernmental
organisations. The joint Enrichment Project has developed a manual for use
by other organisations to facilitate this process of replication.

DURING HIGHER EDUCATION

Leaf College of Commerce and Engineering

Service-learning

Contact: Mr Martin Mulcahy


Leaf College vice-principal for planning and development
Private Bag $8
Rondebosch, 7700
Phone: (021) 686-0070 Fax: (021) 686-0182

Leaf College aims to address the needs of students committed to careers in


commerce and engineering who have particular abilities in these fields but
who have been educationally underprepared through inadequate access to
educational resources. Leaf College is a post-matric, residential college in
Rondebosch, Cape Town, which enables students with potential to gain
access to established technikons, universities and workplace training
programmes. There are currently 120 students enrolled at the college from
all areas of South Africa, the result being that students with different
backgrounds, home languages and cultures can further their studies in an
environment of tolerance and mutual respect.
One way in which the college incorporates community service into its
curriculum is through its engineering course. Students identify a
technology-related problem in their community and design a product to
solve the problem. The groups make a model and a technical drawing of
the product, write a report and give an oral presentation on the product.
The design project enables students to apply what they are learning in the
classroom to the real world in the context of helping other people. The
project also helps students to develop skills related to thinking, organising,
communicating and teamwork. The college, and more broadly, the
National Access Consortium Western Cape which is facilitated by Leaf
College and represents 26 bridging institutions, is interested in expanding
its involvement in service-learning activities as it seeks to increase
enrolment in these types of bridging programmes from the current level of
500 to its goal of 4 000 students by 1998. In addition, there are chances in
its existing workstudy programme to expand the involvement of students
to working in community-based organisations.

Wits High Schools Partnership Programme

Camps-based/Workstudy

Contact: Thulare Bopape


1 Jan Smuts Avenue
University Corner, sixth floor
Braamfontein
Phone: (011) 716-3204Fax: (011) 716-3402

Wits University is working with 20 black Gauteng high schools in


traditionally disadvantaged areas to develop a model for tertiary
institutions to follow. The pilot partnership programme has three major
goals:
• To prepare high school children more adequately for the workplace
and tertiary education;
• To promote student development and increase the success rate of
students through improved teaching and learning and coherent
academic development programmes; and
• To foster staff development at all levels.

Towards those ends, about 200 Wits students (at the level of third year or
honours in their subject) are engaged in tutoring about 25 students
(Standard 6-10) at each of the 20 schools. Students selected in Standard 6
are expected to participate in the programme through to Standard 10. In
addition, Wits University staff are providing in-service workshops for
teachers and are assisting with upgrading teacher qualifications. With the
assistance of Reach and Teach, computers have been provided to five of
the schools to establish computer resource centres to enhance learning.
Wits students participating in the programme have been receiving financial
compensation for their involvement. It is expected that following the
programme's recent move to the faculty of education, students will begin
to receive academic credit for participating in lieu of financial
compensation.

The Wits High Schools Partnership Programme is a sophisticated


operation which uses a participatory community-driven process and
significant private sector support to engage hundreds of Wits students in
assisting with the development of students in 20 black high schools. In
examining the potential for expanding their programme, there was a desire
to channel more tutors into the same 20 schools to achieve a greater
impact instead of expanding the number of schools involved. With the
recent involvement of the faculty of education, additional financial
resources could enable the programme to expand.

As a pilot project, the high schools partnership programme does provide


an interesting model for other tertiary institutions to examine. However,
significant institutional, financial, and human resources would be necessary
for a particular institution to pursue the development of this type of
programme, particularly given the range of partnerships which are crucial
for a programme like this to succeed.

The Desmond Tutu Education Trust On-campus avorkstudy

Contact: Ms Thandiwe McLean Executive director


13 Greenwich Grove Station Road
Rondebosch, 7700
Phone: (021) 686-5010 Fax: (021) 686-2278
The Desmond Tutu Education Trust funds workstudy programmes at
the five higher education institutions in the Western Cape: University of
Cape Town, University of the Western Cape, Stellenbosch University,
Peninsula Technikon and Cape Technikon. About 3 000 students receive
funding every year for workstudy experiences.

The workstudy programme is an employment project with students


employed in academic and nonacademic capacities. Students are
employed as tutors, laboratory and research assistants in academic
departments, research institutes and centres, and as administrative
assistants providing extra infrastructural support in administrative and
service departments. Most projects are campus-based, while some have a
community-based educational focus. At the University of the Western
Cape examples of community-based education projects proliferate in the
faculties of community and health sciences, dentistry and the School of
Pharmacy.

While the workstudy programme benefits the total academic enterprise,


students are the primary beneficiaries of the programme as it is directed
at their academic development and their ability to afford fees. There is
reciprocity in the delivery of workstudy. Student assistants receive
financial aid, and participating students acquire the confidence to
confront their lack of preparation for tertiary education. Ultimately it
facilitates the progression from undergraduate to graduate programmes,
and in so doing addresses national human resource needs. Students are
also kept in direct contact with the needs of the greater community and
this link helps them to identify more closely with the impact of improved
social conditions once they graduate.

The objectives of the workstudy programme are:

• To provide substantial financial assistance while encouraging co-


operative learning among the students;

• To broaden the academic development programme by enabling


students to become actively involved in the learning process and to
develop skills to apply the acquired knowledge;

• To complement the staff component to keep up with the growth in


student numbers -a consequence of accessible entrance
requirements
- thereby improving the institution's capacity to provide quality
education;

• To simulate working conditions to prepare graduates adequately for


the work situation, thereby increasing their marketability; and

• To inculcate a culture of work among the students, and instil a sense


of responsibility.

Two programmes supported by the Desmond Tutu Educational Trust


are described below: one at Peninsula Technikon and the other at the
University of the Western Cape.

1. Peninsula Technikon

This workstudy programme is divided into the following categories,


each with specific objectives.

Peer group teaching, laboratory, fieldwork and research assistantship: In


the face of the phenomenal growth in student numbers, the lack of
increased funding, and the concomitant increase in staff workloads,
new strategies have been devised to provide students with the
individual attention they need to overcome their educational
disadvantage. These consist of alternative tutorial programmes which
are driven by the students, with a high level of involvement by relevant
staff members. In these programmes, groups of students are each
assigned to a senior student and follow a programme specially designed
for that group by the lecturer. The monitoring process is facilitated by
the exercises the students are given on completed work. The senior
students are called peer group teaching assistants and are remunerated
for their contribution. The same principle applies to laboratory and
fieldwork assistants. Here senior students are allocated to small groups
in laboratory or field settings during the practical component of a
course. The students help reduce the lecturer's load and help him/her
to focus on more innovative ways of delivering the course.

Although the mandate of technikons is to produce graduates with high-


level technological skills, equipped for the job market, few graduates are
absorbed into technikons by way of continued research or teaching. In
attempting to address this deficiency, the Desmond Tutu Educational
Trust has introduced a programme in which students are trained and
encouraged to do research in specific areas. This is done by opening
spaces for research assistants to aid lecturers embarking on various
aspects of research such as literature reviews, etc. The students are
remunerated at the same levels as the peer group teaching assistants.

Administrative assistantship: The above categories require a certain level


of academic competence, and for that reason may exclude many students,
particularly first-year students. The administrative assistantship
programme targets this group of students. The duties in this category
range widely from pure administrative duties like answering telephones,
taping and filing to duties relating to distribution of post or monitoring
the in-flow and out-flow of people in residences. The main benefit for
students in this category is financial, as well as gaining skills related to the
duties performed.

In-service training opportunities: The nature of a technikon qualification


is such that the student should complete a period of experiential training
before qualifying, particularly in the technology fields. The
unemployment rate in the country has a direct and negative impact on the
process of students being placed with companies for experiential training.
The workstudy programme provides an opportunity for placing students
in the institution's own laboratories, which are of the same standard as
those in industry, or better. These trainees are to be employed for part of
an academic year and are remunerated on a monthly basis.

Orientation: The Peninsula Technikon has had to move into lice with
other institutions in requesting up-front payment for tuition and boarding
fees. This often has to come from parents/ students since none or very
few bursaries have been confirmed by this time, and many students are
unable to afford these fees. With this in mind, the technikon is using the
registration period to employ some students part-time, both in an
administrative capacity and in programmes that assist the `new' students
in the transition from secondary to higher education. The orientation
committee has already put such programmes in place, while the Desmond
Tutu Educational Trust assists with remuneration for the student
assistants.
Peer helpers: The student affairs department together with the student
representatives' council will identify ways in which students who have
gained experience in student structures can be employed to support newly
elected members.

Library information service: The Desmond Tutu Educational Trust


workstudy programme has played a constructive role in providing labour to
the library information service which operated under severe staff shortage
constraints over the years. Some dedicated students were employed to
facilitate this function and they also had a chance to earn an income for
personal and tuition expenses. At the same time students were exposed to
the demands of the real working world under the mentorship of the library
information service.

Implementation and management: Each department participating in the


programme, is required, via the director of the school concerned, to submit
a detailed programme for consideration. The programme starts at the
beginning of the academic year and proceeds throughout the year for about
30 weeks. The programme is evaluated at quarterly intervals by the
coordinator with the lecturers and/or section heads concerned. The group
leaders are remunerated, and 60% of the money due to them is deducted
and paid towards meeting costs for their fees. In the process they also
acquire new skills, including confidence and a better understanding of the
course involved. As far as possible black women, particularly those from
rural areas, are given priority in becoming involved in these programmes.
Two mechanisms are employed in recruiting students into the programmes:
advertising across campus, and active methods which involve identifying
financially needy students through the financial aid office.

The programme is managed by the programme coordinator who reports to


the vice-rector. An office has been established as an infrastructure for the
programme and is financed to a large part by the technikon. There is
cooperation in the running of the programme with other technikon
departments such as the financial aid office which helps identify needy
students, and the cooperative education department which helps find
suitable placements for students. Interest has also been expressed by the
student counselling department. Financial management is exercised by the
programme coordinator in conjunction with the finance department.
2. University of the Western Cape

A number of community outreach projects have been initiated by the


dentistry faculty, the School of Pharmacy and other departments in the
health sector.

The community dentistry department uses student assistants for two of its
projects. The Eros project is focused on preventative health, and is directed
towards improving the oral hygiene of scholars at the Eros School for
Cerebral Palsied Children, The students participating in this programme
have become involved with the Eros children in more than just the
provision of oral health care. They have, for example, organised an annual
fun-day since 1994.

The denture project, based at a clinic in Guguletu, was established to


provide a free denture service to the elderly in Guguletu, Langa, Nyanga and
Khayelitsha. Historically dental services were not extended to this
community and the demand for dentures is phenomenal. While the
conditions under which students provide the service are less than ideal, the
opportunity has resulted in a swifter development of skills in prosthetic
dentistry. The project has also highlighted the plight of pensioners in
disadvantaged communities.

The School of Pharmacy introduced a community-orientated pharmacy


asthma project to investigate the potential for using pharmacies and
community pharmacists to improve the identification and management of
asthmatic patients who visit pharmacies for medication. Not only has this
project evolved as an answer to a need expressed by community
pharmacists, but it has also proved to be a valuable vehicle for exposing
undergraduate students to aspects of pharmacy practice.

The Western Cape community partnership project focuses on


interdisciplinary community-based health worker education. Faculties and
students from the health sector at the University of the Western Cape and
Peninsula Technikon are beneficiaries and participants in this programme.
While the Kellogg Foundation sponsors this programme, some of the
infrastructural needs regarding monitoring and implementation at
departmental level are met by student assistants. This is also an example of
interinstitutional cooperation.
Projects in nonacademic departments

The successful functioning of the academic departments is totally


dependent on an efficient administrative system. Although the university
experienced steady growth in student numbers from 1986 onwards, this
was not equalled by an increase in administrative support staff. The
employment of student assistants has played an important role in
strengthening infrastructural support and enhancing the efficiency of
administrative support structures. While academic departments are obliged
to prioritise academic excellence above the financial needs of students, a
significant number of students are employed in the nonacademic sector,
where financial need is prioritised in selection. This ensures equity in the
distribution of trust funds.

Administrative assistants: In many administrative functions - such as


registration, processing of marks and preparation of brochures - permanent
staff receive essential support from administrative assistants who receive
financial aid in return.

Management information systems: In management information systems


courses, student assistants support lecturers in the presentation and
monitoring of students' performance when applying the theory to the
practical use of computer and accounting software. The assistance is vital in
enabling lecturers to make practical work accessible to a much larger
number of students.

Computer laboratory assistants: These students help to keep the computer


laboratory open at night to accommodate the needs of students who
require access to this facility.

Support for institutes and centres: As is the case at the Peninsula


Technikon, student assistants at the University of the Western Cape
provide a valuable service to many administrative and support departments
at the university The service includes processing application forms for
university admission; assisting in the registration office with data capturing,
and so forth, both at the start of the academic year and during the year;
helping in the financial aid office with filing, data capturing, sorting of
application forms and assisting at the inquiries desk; providing assistance
in the records section by filing and maintaining student files; and
working in the finance department.

Students employed through the workstudy programme also help to


provide support functions in most of the university's institutes and
centres (such as the Institute for Social Development, the Centre for
Adult and Continuing Education, the Education Policy Unit and the
Gender Equity Unit). In the course of their involvement in these centres
they often develop incisive research skills.

University of the Witwatersrand Rural Facility

Campus-based/Service-learning

Contact: Mr John Gear


Executive director
Private Bag X420
Acornhoek, 1360
Phone: (015) 793-3991 Fax: (011) 793-3992

The mission of the Wits Rural Facility best summarises the purpose of its
work: Wits University should through a permanent presence in a typical
rural area create a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary endeavour
which will contribute to the development of such areas; inform society
of rural needs; provide a venue for experiential community-based
learning for postgraduate and undergraduate students from a spectrum of
facilities; and alert Wits graduates to the challenges and rewards of
working in such a rural area. This will ultimately benefit not only the
immediate communities but South African society as a whole on an
ongoing basis, through the service, research, advocacy and policy making
of the students and staff who are participants in and products of the
rural facility's endeavour.

The Wits Rural Facility is involved in numerous projects which employ


about 40 full-time staff and involve many different Wits departments.
For example, the occupational therapy department runs a training course
for community-based rehabilitation workers in conjunction with the
Tintswalo Hospital rehabilitation unit. The rural facility provides
accommodation for students and their trainers, runs some training
sessions
on community development topics, and has helped to evaluate the
programme. Mechanical engineering students have contributed to this
project by designing and building low-cost walkers for local disabled people.

Three distinct features make the rural facility's work unique:

• There is a permanent Wits University presence in Mpumalanga;

• The rural facility's staff are interdisciplinary; and

• The facility provides a mix of teaching, research and service.

The most significant challenge facing the rural facility is the lack of
sustainable funding for its projects. While the rural facility's activities need
to be expanded, the funders have tended to establish short-term projects
with a focused impact. With additional sustainable financial resources, the
facility could expand its capacity dramatically.

The rural facility also provides an interesting model for other institutions to
examine because it provides a mechanism for students studying in an urban
community to focus their work on rural needs. The major barrier to
developing additional interdisciplinary facilities further in other institutions
will most likely be a lack of financial and human resources.

The University of the North

National Community Water and Sanitation Training Institute

Contact: Dr A. Shaker
Executive director
National Community Water and Sanitation Training
Institute
c/o University of the North
Private Bag X1106 Sovenga, 0727
Phone: (0152) 268-3266 Fax: (0152) 268-3263
email: [email protected]
The institute was opened in 1996 with the primary aim of working
within the community water and sanitation sector. Its goal was to
standardise training and influence tertiary education with a view to
engaging more students in programmes contributing human resources
to the sector.

The institute is currently negotiating with the university to help it


establish an agriculturalist generalist programme focusing studies on
engineering and rural development. It is anticipated that the institute will
play a significant role in developing the curriculum for the programme,
teaching courses on environmental science, and facilitating the
placement of students in community-based work experiences in the
water and sanitation sector. The institute receives its funding from the
Irish government and the Water Research Commission. It is based at
the University of the North which provides in-kind office space.

Technikon Northern Transvaal Mechanical engineering programme

Contact: Mr P G Van Niekerk


Executive director
Technikon Northern Transvaal Foundation
PO. Box 313
Parklands, 2121
Phone: (011) 880-8090 Fax: (011) 880-6003

The goal of the project was to form a joint venture to develop a mobile
spaza - a small shop or workshop run by entrepreneurs in the informal
business sector. In essence, the project entailed designing a vehicle for
handicapped people which could be built and serviced inexpensively by
local, black-owned backyard autobody shops in the township of
Soshanguve, where the technikon is located. Under this programme,
senior mechanical engineering students, guided by their mechanical
engineering lecturer, have built a proto-type model and will work to
design the mobile spaza. The students on the project will be divided into
four teams - suspension and steering, platform and superstructure,
engine and power pack, and control and electricity. In this service-
learning project, students will be challenged to take what they were
learning in the classroom and apply it to the real world in the context of
helping other people.
The tecknikon has hired a full-time coordinator for the project. It is also
anticipated that partnerships will he developed with private sector
engineering and auto manufacturers to donate in-kind support for the
mobile spaza. Thirty students will participate in the project, which is
partly financed by the Ford Foundation. The department of mechanical
engineering was approached by the Medunsa Organisation for Disabled
Entrepreneurs Project to form a joint venture for the development of a
mobile spaza. The Technikon Northern Transvaal Foundation submitted
a proposal to the Ford Foundation to support this endeavour.

The institution is quite involved in the project through its mechanical


engineering department and the project has been incorporated into the
curriculum. The project is about 1 8 months behind schedule because of
the challenge of finding an appropriate full-time coordinator for the
project. The coordinator was hired recently and the class is expected to
start soon.

The University of the North West

S e r v i c e -l e a r n i n g

Contact: Dr G. Humphrey
Project leader
Water Research Commission
Private Bag X2046
Mmabatho
Phone: (0140) 8 9 2 - 050 Fax: (0140) 8 9 2 -052

The University of the North West was designed to involve all its faculties
in the development of the university's surrounding community. The
purpose of involving students is to give them practical work experience
and to expose them to community issues. There is no overall project
coordinator but community service is compulsory for students and is
completed in different ways. For example, one of the projects of the
chemistry department which involves 2 5 students in service-learning has
three goals:

• To perform a chemical and biological analysis of rural water


supplies in the Molopo region of the North West Province;

• To correlate the analysis results to the health of community


members and disease profiles; and
• To run intervention and education programmes for the 12 villages
in the region.

The water project is a partnership between the University of the North


West and the Water Research Commission. It operates in the province
and creates the linkages between research, teaching and community
service which allow the university to be responsive to the broader
community's needs.

Technikon Witwatersrand

Campus-based/Service-learning/Workstudy

Contact: Mike Mailula


Community projects officer
PO. Box 17011
Doornfontein, 2028
Phone: (011) 406-2512 Fax: (011) 406-2283

The Wits Technikon has involved more than 120 students in a campaign
to improve the standard of living and quality of life in disadvantaged
communities through about six different projects. The technikon's
mission provides for community-outreach programmes which are
supported by academic departments and coordinated by a community
projects officer. The private sector provides a significant amount of
resources for the project's core activities, and students can receive
bursaries, academic credits and in some cases money for taking part.

The amount of time students work in the programme differs from


project to project. In some projects, students spend an average of one
day a week doing community service while others participate during
technikon holidays. Some examples of the technikon projects include:

• A water purification project in Pilanesberg,

• A health clinic in Alexandra used by taxi drivers and commuters;

• Fine art education in disadvantaged communities;

• Computer literacy programmes for teachers;

• Peer tutoring programmes for matric students; and

• Bridging programmes for post-matric students.


Given the basic infrastructure that exists to support this community
development programme, expanding student involvement in these
projects would require the appropriate resources to build the staff
infrastructure (there is currently only one full-time staff member) and
the funds necessary to support the projects. However, given the
institution's previous acknowledgement of the importance of
experiential education and community, development work, the process
of further institutionalising the programme is constrained primarily by
the lack of financial resources. There is also a willingness on the
technikon's part to share knowledge with other tertiary institutions
about its work and to embark on joint ventures.

University of Natal Pietermaritzburg Student Employment Project


(Step)

Workstudy

Contact: Dr Phumelele Ntombela-Nzimande


Head, Student Employment Project
University of Natal Pietermaritzburg
Private Bag X01 Scottsville, 3209
Phone: (0331) 260-5870 Fax: (0331) 260-5741

The project started in 1991 with the following aims:

• To develop a mentoring relationship between academic staff


members and students to break down barriers created by decades
of the apartheid system in general and by apartheid education in
particular. This relationship would be built while working with a
student on a research project;

• To encourage students to do community work. Their participation


in the community would result in an interactive relationship
between the university and its surrounding communities, thus
laying the foundations for a two-way partnership;

• To provide role models who would encourage and help first-year


students to overcome their learning difficulties; and

• To supplement needy students with their fees and general income.


The workstudy programme is one component of Step's activities and
enables students to work either as interns (working with a staff member),
or as a student mentor in a peer-tutoring programme under a staff
supervisor.

Interns work for 90 hours either as an academic researcher or as a


community intern. Students are given a `living allowance' and receive part
payment into their fee accounts. These payments are made biannually,
once the work has been completed. Each intern and his or her staff
mentor attend a joint compulsory introductory workshop at the
beginning of the year where new participants learn from the experiences
of those who have already taken part in the programme. This is a vital
part of the programme because it reflects on past problems, how they
have been overcome and the experiences gained from the programme.
Community interns work with off-campus organisations under the same
conditions as the academic research interns. Contracts are drawn up for
participants.

The student mentors undergo intensive training workshops over three


days, have six-weekly reportback meetings and have the coordinator
attend at least one of their mentoring sessions. A certificate is presented
to all participants and this is added to their CVs. Programme evaluations
are conducted periodically to accommodate the changing demands within
the programme.

Financial support and larger impact

In 1991 the internship programme, as it was called then, was made


possible when the Ford Foundation, the Canadian embassy and Kelloggs
provided funding. The Ford Foundation still funds the student stipend
aspect of the programme. The university finally took responsibility for the
programme's running costs and staff salaries in 1995. Step is located
within the university's student services unit and this has made it an
integral part of the student development function at the university.

In 1992, the integration of internships as a credit-bearing course was


piloted by the theology department. Curriculum change was brought
about through knowledge gained from research in townships and squatter
camps. The information obtained has been used to improve the training
of priests who go back into these communities. This is a growing project
in the
theology department. An off-shoot from community internships was a
pilot study set up in the political studies department in 1996 where
students were required to put in 40 hours of community work as part of
their course work.

Another student-driven initiative is the now-established learner driver


project. The students realised that without drivers' licences they would not
be able to access the areas easily in which they were training to work. The
students collected money and a university cost account was opened for
them. This snowballed and after much negotiation with the Minister of
Transport, the traffic department and driving schools, BP donated a car
and R60 000 for students to obtain their drivers' licences. To date 30
students have acquired these licences.

Internship programmes have resulted in students being offered


employment in the departments where they have been interns. Mentoring
relationships have helped to identify potential in students that would
otherwise have gone unnoticed, role models have been provided for other
students, career paths have been identified and students offered
employment because of the specific experience gained in the internship
programme. The university has also been made aware of the inadequacies
that exist for visually impaired students on campus. Other changes that
previously went unnoticed have been identified through having visually
impaired students in the programme; for example, building construction is
demarcated in such a way as to provide a safe passage for those who
cannot see.

In 1995 the initiative was taken to open the programme to all races. This
highlighted areas where previously advantaged students were
disadvantaged. Some students had never ventured into the townships and
were horrified to find out the conditions in which old people had to
collect their pensions. Other students were too afraid to go into small
business areas that were not historically white.

Students have benefited from part-time employment opportunities


organised through Step and this has resulted in a successful partnership
between the university and employers. The programme has also helped the
university to think on a long-term basis about developing partnerships
internally and externally, so as to achieve a paradigm shift in the
university's role beyond research, teaching and learning. The KwaZulu-
Natal Midlands
partnership on the Pietermaritzburg campus is well under way, engaging
with the Education Department and other stakeholders on their stance on
further education. In this way the university is using its resources to help
address `the leak in the educational pipeline' through the community
college network envisaged by the partnership programme.

The University of Natal Pietermaritzburg

Service-learning

Political science 331 – citizenship and community service

Contact: See page 124.

This class was created to `encourage students to think about and


encounter issues pertaining to citizenship by a combination of coursework
and an internship with an approved community partner'. The internship is
spread over a semester and requires a minimum of 40 hours of voluntary
community service in governmental or nongovernmental work. The
focuses on researching and understanding the role of citizenship in a
democratic society, working in the internship and reflecting on those
experiences through a journal and in class discussion. Students are also
required to complete a final report and presentation to de in the major
themes from the class with the work experiences they had. The class is
taught by Prof Ralph Lawrence and Phumelele Ntombela-Nzimande is the
course coordinator, facilitating the placement of students in internships
through the student employment project. There is potential to replicate
these types of opportunities on other campuses provided there is a faculty
member interested in this subject and someone who that person can work
with to facilitate student placement.

Johannesburg College of Education Community Education Programme

Service-learning

Contact: Ms Penny Tyawa


Johannesburg College of Education
27 St Andrews Road
Parktown, 2193
Phone: (011) 642-7373 Fax: (011) 643-6312
The Johannesburg College of Education's Community Education
Programme is an integral part of the curriculum for students at the
college. All college students are required to complete 20 hours of
voluntary community service and to submit an assignment which
represents the theory underpinning the practical component. Last year
160 students completed the programme. Examples of the types of
projects include:

• A series of workshops to promote social and physcial development;

• Tutoring projects in maths, English and science;

• A lifeskills programme (conflict resolution) at Vezukhomo


Community School; and

• A variety of literacy and adult basic education projects.

The aim of the community education programme is to take students


outside the classroom situation and into the real world where they can
apply what they have been learning to help others. Students are typically
placed as individuals with organisations to develop and coordinate
projects. Funding for the programme is provided by Standard Bank. The
Johannesburg College of Education serves as an excellent example of the
way in which community service can be thoroughly integrated into the
curriculum to enhance learning and to imbue a sense of civic
responsibility.

Ufundo Workstudy

Contact: Mr Kabelo Kale (Director: Administration)


Students' Union
University of Cape Town
Rondebosch 7700
Phone: (021) 650-3843 Fax: (021) 650-2904

Ufundo stands for the Ujima Fundraising Organisation. Ujima means


`collective work and responsibility', and encapsulates the essence of the
programme. Ufundo is a student-initiated organisation at the University
of Cape Town which was founded in 1995 in response to the student
financial aid crisis. Although there is an established financial aid office at
the University of Cape Town, it is unable to meet student demand for
financial assistance. The rise in the number of needy students has meant
that few students receive full assistance. As a direct result, this threatens to
Emit access to tertiary education. Ufundo aims to provide bursaries for 1
000 students and 500 emergency loans for other students over the next
five years.

Ufundo's mission is:

• To increase access to tertiary education by easing the financial crisis


experienced by most students from disadvantaged backgrounds; and

• To encourage student independence by proactively ensuring that all


students involved in Ufundo gain life skills that enrich tertiary
education by making it a form of education for life.

Ufundo believes that South Africa will be able to take great strides in
developing previously disadvantaged communities only if skilled citizens
work in those communities. Ufundo beneficiaries are therefore required to
reinvest their skills in development projects. Ufundo is currently operating
four community service projects:

• A computer literacy project affiliated with the computer science


department and Anderson Consulting;

• A tutoring programme;

• An AIDS awareness project; and

• A nature awareness and environmental conservation project. Ufundo


was established as a partnership between many sectors of the
University of Cape Town, including the student affairs department,
the financial aid office and the vice-chancellor. These partnerships
will be critical if Ufundo is to succeed in its fundraising efforts. There
is tremendous potential and need for expanding the Ufundo
programme and that is precisely what the players are trying to do over
the next five years. This model - which links bursaries to community
service - is the type of programme that could be replicated at tertiary
institutions countrywide given the appropriate institutional, financial
and community resources.
The Southern African Student Volunteers' Organisation (Sasvo)
Campus-based

Contact: Prof Christof Heyns

The Centre for Human Rights Faculty of


law

University of Pretoria Pretoria,


0002

Phone: (012) 420-3810 Fax: (012) 434-021

Sasvo was established in 1993 by the Centre for Human Rights at the
University of Pretoria as a nationwide programme which enables students
at all universities, technikons and colleges to work as volunteers with
established community service organisations during their holidays. Their
most recent project, Operation Zenzele (`Do it yourself'), was held during
the winter holiday and engaged more than 300 higher education students
working on a major school renovation and human rights education
campaign in over 50 Gauteng secondary schools. Other organisations that
were partners in the project included the Gauteng education department,
the Congress of South African Students, the Pan African Students'
Organisation and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. Operation
Zenzele was aimed at enabling tertiary and secondary education students
to take joint responsibility for reconstructing a healthy and humane
community life on the basis of the new constitution.

With a recent grant from the United Nations Development Programme,


eight recent tertiary education graduates will be hired by the United
Nations Volunteers to work for Sasvo as regional coordinators for the
project. These fieldworkers will enable the latter to increase its presence
on campuses countrywide. Given the appropriate financial resources,
Sasvo is well-positioned to expand its operations to engage more students
in community service, and to serve in the long term as a clearinghouse for
student organisations which are looking to plan community service
projects over their holidays.
The Students' Health and Welfare Centres Organisation (Shawco)
Campus-based

Contact: Andile Blaii or Charles Ainsley


President and president-elect
Glen Truran, director
155 12th Avenue Kensington, 7405
Phone: (021) 593-2170 Fax: (021) 593-3815

Shawco was founded in 1943 by a small group of University of Cape


Town medical students. They began a small night clinic in Windemere,
then a squatter community. Since then Shawco has grown to be the
largest student-initiated welfare organisation in the country employing
40 fulltime staff and using about 600 student volunteers.

Shawco has expanded from its traditional health focus to include a


wide range of welfare and education services provided from seven
community centres in chronically underserviced squatter camps and
townships around Cape Town. Specific projects run by Shawco
include:

• Mobile health clinics operated by University of Cape Town


medical students;

• The Shawco tutorial education programme which provides


tutorial classes for 500 Std 9 and Std 10 children in Khayelitsha,
Langa and Gugulethu;

• The Shawco HIV and AIDS resistance programme (Sharp);

• A nutrition programme feeding 8 000 pre-school and 30 000


primary school children each day;

• Economic development programmes; and

• An adult education programme for learners in night schools.

Shawco believes it is important for its projects to be driven by


community needs. Most full-time staff based in the centres are hired
from the local community and the long-term goal is for the centres to
become self-sufficient community operations. As a student-driven
organisation,
students are integrally involved in all aspects of programme planning,
development and fundraising activities. All student members of Shawco
are volunteers. Typically students volunteer for a particular project and
are trained in both the principles of Shawco and the skills they need for
that project. The Shawco student president and two vice-presidents
coordinate and liaise between all sectors of the organisation.

The organisation does not wish to expand its operations unless this is
accompanied by sustainable funding. With sustainable funding,
however, there is significant potential to expand programmes offered
by Shawco's community centres, some of which are not staffed by full-
time employees. Extra full-time employees will be able to provide
greater services to the community and will help to create opportunities
for placing additional volunteers.

Shawco is an interesting model for tertiary education because it focuses


its energy on community needs and relies on student leadership to
harness the enthusiasm and idealism of students to make a difference to
the surrounding communities.

University of Stellenbosch Clinics Organisation (Uskor) Campus-based

Contact: Lydia Burger


Volunteers' coordinator
Private Bag Xl
Matieland, 7602
Phone: (021) 808-3841 Fax: (021) 886-5441

Uskor is the student service organisation of Stellenbosch which


provides the organisational framework for student participation in
community service and development. Uskor's purpose is to address the
service and development needs of communities with effective and
legitimate programmes which involve students and the university's
knowledge and expertise. Uskor was founded in 1964 as a clinic service
for the disadvantaged. Today, more than 250 students and eight full-
time staffers are involved in service delivery and development projects
including:
• Entrepreneurial development and job creation endeavours;

• Primary health care programmes;

• Youth development programmes;

• Adult basic education and training; and

• A community resources programme.

Uskor uses the university's financial systems and office space but is
an independent service and welfare organisation. Community and
student governance of projects is also an important component of
Uskor's work. AFTER HIGHER EDUCATION

The South Africa Graduate Development Association

Community-based

Contact: Vukile Nkabinde President


PO. Box 1144
Johannesburg, 2000
Phone: (011) 630-7896 Fax: (011) 630-7951

The association is an organisation serving unemployed graduates


from universities, technikons and colleges. It was founded by and is
managed by formerly unemployed graduates. It has three goals:

• To create employment and internship opportunities for


unemployed graduates;

• To encourage graduates to be involved in self-employment and


community development initiatives; and

• To lobby and network on behalf of unemployed graduates to


raise awareness about the situation, and to communicate the
value that can be added in developing communities by using their
skills.

The graduate development association was created to fill a gap in


service provision, particularly because there were no after-
study/post-tertiary
programmes for former students to assist them in developing the skills
needed for further employment. The association still has difficulty
raising money for its programmes but has significant potential to
address the needs of recent graduates. Given the appropriate resources,
it is prepared to expand its operations. In addition, the association has
received requests to bring these types of programmes to other
institutions.

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