Community Engagement in Higher Education From Theory to Practice

PART I
Introduction: Positioning Community Engagement in Higher Education

1 Community Engagement in Higher Education: An Introduction
Manju Singh, Purva Bhatt, Wafa Singh and Kumar Sambhav Pareek

2 Decoloniality, Community Engaged Scholarship and Epistemic Justice
Purva Bhatt and Manju Singh

3 Community Engagement in Higher Education Institutions: Critical Enablers
Wafa Singh and Manju Singh

PART II
Global Perspectives: Experiences and Insights

4 Pedagogies of Community Engagement: Reflections from a Higher Education Setting in the Global South
Doris Santos

5 Weaving Knowledge Systems: Challenges and Possible Solutions through Community-Engaged Research in Canada and Nordic Countries
Walter Lepore and Leslie King

6 European Science Shops in Higher Education: Building Capacity for Engaged Research and Teaching
Emma McKenna

7 University–Community Engagement within the Indonesian Context: A Case Study of UINSA
Nabiela Naily, Hernik Farisia, Muchammad Helmi Umam and Noor Wahyudi

8 Community Engagement for Social Transformation: Experiences in the UK and Canada
Ceri Davies

9 Insights into Community Engagement at Higher Education Institutions in South Africa
Raisuyah Bhagwan and Shannal Rowkith

10 Evolution of Community Engagement Policy Agenda: Italian Perspectives on Equitable Partnerships Under Growing Neoliberal Pressure
Francesca Antongiovanni, Valentina Ghibellini and Andrea Vargiu

11 Weaving Paths from the Convergence of Knowledge: Colombian Experiences of University–Community Partnerships
Irma Flores, Andrés Astaiza, Luisa González and Daniel Lopera

PART III
The Indian Standpoint: Institutional Programmes, Experiences and Partnerships

12 Community Engagement in the Indian Higher Education Landscape
Purva Bhatt, Wafa Singh, Manju Singh and Kumar Sambhav Pareek

13 Towards Developing Responsible Managers: Goa Institute of Management’s GiveGoa Initiative
Divya Singhal and Padhmanabhan Vijayaraghavan

14 Establishing University–Community Collaborations: Experiential Learning Initiatives at Manipal University, Jaipur
Madhura Yadav and Manish Sharma

15 Creating a Sustainable Waste Management System as a Service-Learning Project at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University
Vipina Valsan, Akshay Viswanath and J. Sophie von Lieres

16 Community Engagement as a Tool for Social Development: The Experiences at Bhagat Phool Singh (BPS) Women’s University
Manju Panwar

17 Service-Learning at Christ University: An Experiential Instrument for Community Engagement in Higher Education Institutions
Phinu Mary Jose and Sudhansubala Sahu

18 Mainstreaming Community Engagement and Participation in Urban Planning Education: A Case Study of MNIT, Jaipur
Shradha Chandan, Bansari Sharma,Satish Pipralia, Nand Kumar and Ashwani Kumar

19 Embedding Community Engagement in the Architecture of JK Lakshmipat University for Achieving the SDGs
Sheetal Mundra and Umesh Gupta

PART IV
Conclusion: Ways Forward for Community Engagement in Higher Education

20 Community Engagement in Higher Education: Weaving the Threads and Future Directions
Wafa Singh, Purva Bhatt, Manju Singh and Kumar Sambhav Pareek

Biography

Manju Singh has more than three and half decade of accomplished well recognized teaching and research career in renowned Institutions of higher education comprising 15 years experience as Full Professor in Economics. Presently Professor in Department of Humanities and Social Science at Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur (One of the national institute of Importance in India).

Prof Singh is the recipient of several international and national recognitions including Sir Ratan Tata Fellow from London School of Economics, UK, Full scholarship for the Global Network of Government Innovators at KSG, Harvard University, USA and ICSSR Doctoral Fellow. She is a certified Mentor under UNESCO chair from University of Victoria, Canada and also established one of the Hubs as Coordinator for Community based participatory research in India. Prof. Singh has evolved an interdisciplinary approach and applied aspect in all attempts. She is a keen project planner, strategist and implementer with demonstrated abilities in devising activities and organizing multidimensional events of social engineering on campus and out of campus.

Prof Singh has led various projects with prestigious institutions, think tanks and forums. She is also a reviewer of various prestigious peer-reviewed journals. The focus areas of her research include Innovation in higher Education, Gender mainstreaming, Technology Diffusion, Social Engineering, Development Economics, Public Policy.

Purva Bhatt is presently a doctoral research scholar at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, which is among a few of the institutes of national importance in India. She has formerly worked as an Assistant Professor of Sociology at St. Xavier's College Jaipur and as Research Co-Director with Union College, New York.

As a community-based participatory researcher, she has worked extensively with grassroots communities. Her research interests primarily lie in the area of education, decoloniality, indigenous knowledge systems, science-technology-society, community engagement, regional development, participatory rural development, and policymaking. Her research collaborations include national and international research projects with prestigious organizations such as the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme of the Government of India (TEQIP), Rural Technology Action Group (RuTAG) at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (Institute of National Importance), National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) which is a government of India flagship program and is inspired by the vision of transformational change in rural development processes.

Purva Bhatt is the recipient of the prestigious HH Dalai Lama Gurukul Fellowship conferred by the Foundation of Universal Responsibility of His Holiness Dalai Lama. As a student, she has remained a Gold Medalist and has been awarded for her academic excellence by the Hon'ble Governor.

She is associated with various reputed forums, such as an associate member of the South African BRICS Youth Association (SABYA), Rashtriya Samaj Vigyan Parishad, and the Indian Sociological Society. She is also a part of multiple youth forums which work on youth advocacy and participatory citizen projects. As a change agent, she is the founding member of non-governmental organizations like Karuna and Bhatt Raja Sadashiv Foundation that influence policymaking and model innovations in action to create a transformational socio-political, economic and cultural impact on the stakeholder communities.

Wafa Singh is a recipient of the Durban University of Technology (DUT) Doctoral Scholarship Scheme, and is currently pursuing her doctoral studies at DUT, Durban, South Africa. Ms. Singh has a decade long work experience in the Higher Education sector and has worked extensively in the field of Social Responsibility & Community Engagement in Higher Education, in her capacity as the former India Research Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education. In this role, she has contributed to many research projects, both at the national level (in collaboration with British Council, India) and at the international level (in collaboration with International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, and The Social Sciences and Humanities and Research Council (SSHRC), Canada). Her work in this field includes publication of several journal articles and a co-edited book titled, ‘Knowledge and Engagement: Building Capacity for the Next Generation of Community Based Researchers’.  She has also presented papers at the European Higher Education Society-EAIR Forum in Leiden, Netherlands in 2019; 2^nd Higher Education Responsible Research and Innovation (HEIRRI) Conference in Vienna in 2018, among others. She is also a UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education certified ‘Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Trainer’ and has delivered several trainings on CBPR for academics and civil society practitioners from India and beyond.

Kumar Sambhav Pareek is an Associate Professor in Department of Society-Technology Interface, Central University of Rajasthan, India. Though he has obtained his Masters and Ph.D. degree in Political Science, but he believes in the philosophy of interdisciplinary research. He has more than 14 years of teaching and prolific research experience. He is a keen observer of not only Indian Political System but also of other developing and developed nations. His main area of interest is Political Sociology, e-Government, Ancient Indian Polity, and Indian Political System. Apart from various research publications, Dr. Kumar has authored one book on Primary unit of Indian Political System i.e. “Zila Parishad”. Apart from this, he has also published a book on E-Governance titled “Stances of E-Government: Policies, Processes and Technologies” in 2018 with CRC Press.  His professional associations include; Life Member of Indian Political Science Association, Life Member of Rajasthan Political Science Association and Life Member of Indian Society for Gandhian Studies.

"For academics and practitioners seeking de-mystification of the concept of Community Engagement (CE) in Higher Education, this book serves a great purpose! I strongly recommend it to the academic fraternity and beyond! Many congratulations to the editors!"

 

Prof D S Chauhan, Pro-Chancellor, GLA University

“This book shall serve as a boon for the Academics who wish to learn about Community Engagement in Higher Education as it delves into the theory, practice, adaptability and the diverse approaches followed globally to engage with the community. It shall prove to be a valuable resource and an important addition to the existing literature on Community Engagement. I congratulate the editors for their efforts and for this timely publication”. 

 

Dr. (Mrs.) Pankaj Mittal, Formerly, Vice Chancellor, BPS Women University, Govt. of Haryana, Formerly, Additional Secretary, UGC, Ministry of  Education, Govt. of India, Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities

“This book illuminates an extremely important, but thinly acknowledged function of higher education-Community Engagement! Couched in rich descriptions of engaged scholarship from around the world, this book is strongly recommended for  anyone interested in strengthening this aspect at their institutions! Commendations to the editors on this fine piece of literature!”

 

Prof Sudhi Rajiv, Vice-Chancellor, Haridev Joshi University of Journalism and Mass Communication

“At the time of Indian Presidency to G- 20 nations in 2022-2023, India is embarking on a new paradigm of development in the world which can sustain planet earth and humanity  for next many millennials and therefore “The book while drawing inspiration from Indian thought on Education philosophy weaves in scholastic perspectives across the globe on renewed approach of Community Engagement in Higher Education in line with National Education Policy, 2020. This is a well-timed book that is recommended for anyone interested in fostering transformational change in higher education by leveraging on the capacities of knowledge institutions and has an important place in National Credit Framework of NEP2020. Congratulations to the Editors in bringing relevant book  at the right time!”

 

Prof. Virendra Kumar Vijay, IREDA  Chair Professor, Centre for Rural Development and Technology, National Coordinator- Unnat Bharat Abhiyan program of Ministry of Education, GoI, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

“Community Engagement in Higher Education is a topic which will demand attention from all quarters in the future, and will be seen as an increasingly important area of work. This book serves a great purpose by collating experiences and lessons from around the world on the topic. A truly valuable resource! Many congratulations to the editors”

Prof Jagdish Jadhav, Dean, School of Social Sciences, Central University of Rajasthan

“Community Engagement (CE) in universities and HEIs needs careful crafting of contextual strategy with effective implementation. This book is an important contribution with focus on both the strategic as well as operational dimensions of CE. Congratulations to the authors for the great work.”

 

Prof. Shiv K. Tripathi, Ph.D., Vice Chancellor, ATMIYA University