Abstract
So far, there has been no serious correction awareness aimed at addressing and promoting career development through community engagement practice in Nigeria, especially in academic settings. No research has been carried out to examine faculty members, particularly professors’ experiences in developing career through community engagement activities in the Nigerian universities. To address this gap, this article presents the perspectives of professors on how faculty members can be attracted to community engagement as a strategy to develop career and boost the reputation of their respective institutions that has been dominated by teaching and research. This article employed the qualitative method, interviewing nine professors from diverse academic disciplines in a leading conventional university in Nigeria. From the analysis, community engagements were found to foster academic career development of the professors in their areas of expertise. More specifically, participatory community engagement outreach helped in expansion of knowledge through solving practical problems, career growth through promotion earned, and increased job satisfaction. The study concludes with implications for human resource development practice and suggestions for future research.
Highlights
In African context and in Nigeria, institutions of higher education are yet to link up with the community due to globalization and its challenging attributes
This study aims to generate unique stands to the career development and community engagement in higher education literature by sharing the career development and community engagement of university professors’ in Nigeria
One of the major contributions community engagements outreach has made to academic career development is promotion at work
Summary
In African context and in Nigeria, institutions of higher education are yet to link up with the community due to globalization and its challenging attributes. This is because the contribution of African academics to research and global discussion has been found to be abysmally low (Adams, 2010; Akinyemi & Potokri, 2016; Akpan, Archibong & Undie, 2011, Idowu, 2014). Research in enhancing career development through community engagement activities among academics in universities still lacks the opportunity to generate unique stands in most African literature; the global community has been able to learn about Africa through the works of African researchers (Adekalu, Shuti, Turiman, Olohungbebe & Adio, 2017a; Idowu, 2014; Ifedili & Ifedili, 2015). Community engagement represents the various ways in which academics engage with communities, together with research and teaching to promote economic, environmental and socio-cultural development. Driscoll (2009) refers to community engagement as collaboration between higher education institutions and their larger communities
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