Understanding Social Responsiveness: Portraits of practice at the University of Cape Town

Judith Favish,Sonwabo Ngcelwane

doi:10.5130/ijcre.v2i0.1159

Abstract

In 2004 the University of Cape (UCT) launched its first annual report on social responsiveness at the university. As a public institution receiving considerable funding from the public purse, it was deemed appropriate that the university should report annually on how it was addressing major development challenges facing the country. The first part of this article describes the process of developing a shared definition of and conceptual clarity about social responsiveness. The second part develops this further by outlining how practices on the ground helped to inform a conceptual framework defining the links between social responsiveness and the other core processes of the university: research and teaching. The third part of the article describes ways to support and reward social responsiveness. Finally, the article assesses the extent to which UCT has been able to institutionalise social responsiveness. The article outlines progress that has been made and suggests that the participative processes employed in the policy development phase have helped lay the foundations for institutionalisation. Despite this, however, challenges remain with respect to ensuring a consistent implementation of the policy across the institution and maximising the impact of social responsiveness on addressing critical challenges facing the country.

Highlights

Judy Favish and Sonwabo NgcelwaneIn tandem with these nation-wide policy developments, UCT has experienced its own emerging engagement with social responsiveness
In 1997, the Department of Education in South Africa released its White Paper 3: A Programme for the Transformation of Higher Education (Department of Education 1997)
An ad hoc Faculty Senate Social Responsiveness Working Group (SRWG) was convened, and in 2004 UCT launched its first annual social responsiveness report It was felt that this report would assist the university to prepare for the institutional audit scheduled for 2005

Summary

Judy Favish and Sonwabo Ngcelwane

In tandem with these nation-wide policy developments, UCT has experienced its own emerging engagement with social responsiveness. The Institute was established to harness the collective academic capability in the University to promote enquiry into the situation of children, to share this capacity through teaching and training programmes, and to mount evidence-based advocacy together with other stakeholders to influence the development of laws, policies and interventions for children These cases reinforced the importance of defining ‘social responsiveness’ in a way that allowed for the wide range of current UCT activities geared to addressing development challenges at national, provincial, local and sectoral levels. This may be a reflection of the inequalities that characterise South African society or perhaps a bias on the part of the Deans who nominate the cases This concern with social justice is amply illustrated by the case of London from the School of Public Health, who describes his role as an academic as ‘helping to build a critical mass of researchers who can develop a coherent theoretical framework for human rights and health work, and translate this into changes in the conditions of ordinary people’

Civic engagement

Conclusion