PREFACE DEPUTY Vice-Chancellor: academic Prof. Vivienne Lawack
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t gives me great pleasure to release our first Scholarship of Engagement Report at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). UWC has always been a place where community engagement comes naturally for staff and students alike. It, therefore, came as no surprise when it came out strongly as being “in our DNA” in the series of “Courageous Conversations with Alumni” that I hosted in 2017 and 2018.
At UWC we do not follow “a soup kitchen approach” to community engagement, but a clear integrated form of scholarship of community engagement that links community engagement with learning and teaching and/or research. This approach was affirmed at one of our Community Engagement colloquia which we host annually, through our Community Engagement Unit, under the leadership of Prof Daniels. As part of us striving to acknowledge and recognise the scholarship of engagement, we have Community Engagement Excellence Awards for individuals and teams at our annual Academic Achievers’ Awards ceremony. In addition, the integrated scholarship of community engagement is an integral part of our criteria for academic promotions. This Report takes our efforts further, by recognising the research conducted at UWC by engaged scholars, as evidence of our impact on our communities and society. Thanks to Prof Daniels, Ms Pearl September-Brown and team for the hard work and effort that went into compiling our first Scholarship of Engagement Report. Congratulations to all our colleagues at UWC whose research is featured. Together with our communities, we as UWC will continue to co- create knowledge that have a sustained impact on our communities and society. Prof Vivienne Lawack Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic
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Scholarship of Engagement Report I 2020
