Introduction: community service learning and the South African research agenda

Abstract

The integration of research and community service learning (also referred to as service learning or service-learning in this volume) opens up opportunities for contributing to the much discussed transformation of higher education in South Africa, through which institutions of higher education are urged to become more democratic, more responsive to community challenges, and conducive to partnership-building with a wide variety of stakeholders. The twofold premise of this introductory article is the following: service learning as a pedagogy is strengthened through scholarly inquiry and, secondly, the South African research agenda can be advanced through the philosophy and epistemology of service learning that promotes collaborative, open systems of knowledge production. The aim of the article is to establish why and how the above should and could be achieved, placing the other contributions to this issue of Acta Academica Supplementum within the framework of a more inclusive service learning research agenda for South Africa.