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Engaged Scholarship Programme Outline, 29.03.2015University of Cape TownEngaged Scholarship Programme 2015Programme Outline1IntroductionOver the past few years, the annual UCT Social Responsiveness Reports have producedqualitative case studies of academics drawing on their scholarly expertise in engagement with‘external’ non-academic constituencies. This community of engaged scholars has pursued itswork with much commitment but, in some cases, without significantly theorising theprocesses, complexities and outputs of engagement.As a project of the University Social Responsiveness Committee, the Engaged ScholarshipProgramme2 seeks to expand and deepen the existing community of engaged scholarshippractice at UCT. The programme provides a space for professional development for staff whowish to embed high quality engagement in their research and/or teaching. Ideally, participantswho complete the programme will also be catalysts for a wider realisation of the conceptionof scholarship that underpins UCT’s revised Policy Framework for Social Responsiveness.Defining engaged scholarship and its purposesEngaged scholarship is a contested and evolving concept. For this programme, we take as astarting point the definition given in UCT’s Social Responsiveness Policy Framework. Thepolicy adopts a view that academic engagement with external constituencies should be basedboth on scholarship and on reciprocity between university academics and ‘externalcommunities’. Scholarship is defined as: “the thoughtful creation, interpretation, communication, or use of knowledgethat is based in the ideas of the disciplines, professions, and interdisciplinaryfields. What qualifies an activity as ‘scholarship’ is that it should be deeplyinformed by (the activity of) accumulating knowledge in some field, that theknowledge is skilfully interpreted and deployed, and that the activity is carriedout with intelligent openness to new information, debate, and criticism” 3As a form of social responsiveness, ‘engaged scholarship’: refers to the utilisation of an academic’s scholarly and/or professionalexpertise, with an intentional public purpose or benefit (which) demonstratesengagement with external (non-academic) constituencies. It can help to generatenew knowledge, promote knowledge integration, the application of knowledge, orthe dissemination of knowledge. 41The Programme Outline will be updated from time to time. Each update will be announced and postedon the ES Programme Vula site.2We acknowledge the Engaged Scholars Academy, Office of the Senior Vice-Provost for Engagementand Academic Outreach, University of New Hampshire for many of the ideas and resources used in thisprogramme (see UCT Social Responsiveness Policy Framework (Approved by Senate 14 September 2012): p.2.This definition is based on the Michigan State University (1993:2) definition of scholarship.4Ibid.1

Engaged Scholarship Programme Outline, 29.03.2015Programme goals and outcomes To pilot, in 2015, a programme of workshop-seminars for building a crossdisciplinary group of staff who are interested in enhancing their own practices ofengaged scholarship and can contribute to the existing community of engagedscholarship practice, especially in relation to the University’s four strategic initiativesand other significant collective and individual innovations. On the basis of the 2015 programme, to develop a set of resources for ongoingcapacity enhancement and an expanded community of engaged scholars. Resourcesmay include a website and a manual.The intended outcomes of the 2015 pilot programme fall into two main categories: outcomesfor participants and outcomes for the University, in particular, for its strategic initiatives andsocial responsiveness mission.Participants who complete the programme will be better placed to: understand why engaged scholarship is crucial to the mission of UCT; design and implement an engaged scholarship project based on ongoing areas ofresearch and/or teaching interest; develop mutually beneficial partnerships within and beyond the university; understand, critically interrogate and apply standards of engaged scholarship; understand the nature, and challenges, of different forms of engagement; document their engaged scholarships for recognition and promotion; theorise the processes, complexities and outputs that emanate from engagement; contribute to local and international debates on engaged scholarship; assist in building a community of engaged scholars by providing leadership inengaged scholarship in their own departments or units, as well as in crossdisciplinary initiatives.Outcomes for UCT: an expanded community of engaged scholars who can contribute to deepeningengagement with external constituencies so as to advance and disseminateknowledge that addresses some of the key challenges facing society.Programme structure, content and approachAt the heart of the programme are four three-hour workshop-seminars5, interspersed withpreparatory reading, reflective work and practical applications. An interactive approach willdraw on participants’ experience and interests. Experienced engaged scholars from UCT willlead the workshops or present aspects of their work.The programme begins, in Workshop 1 (7 April), with a broad overview of the field ofengaged scholarship internationally, examining its central concepts, defining features, qualitycriteria, debates and development. Against this backdrop and through examples of engagedscholarship in action at UCT, Workshop 2 (5 May) examines the ethics and other features ofquality engagement, reflects on different forms of engagement, and considers the benefits ofengagement for teaching, research, innovation and development. We then move, in Workshop5About one week before each workshop, a detailed workshop plan will be announced and posted inResources on the ES Programme Vula site.2

Engaged Scholarship Programme Outline, 29.03.20153 (26 May), to a consideration of how institutional policy enables or constrains engagedscholarship. In the long break that follows Workshop 3, programme participants will workindependently (or in small groups) to prepare for presentation at Workshop 4: a sampleportfolio that document their current engaged scholarship or develop a proposal for anengaged scholarship project or draft a journal article on some aspects of engaged scholarship.In the second semester, participants who complete the programme will be eligible for adviceand mentoring on preparing funding proposals for projects that incorporate components ofengaged scholarship into research, teaching and/or innovation.Outline of workshops and independent activitiesSetting the scene: Preliminary readingThree papers set the scene for the programme and should be read before Workshop 1. Thefirst, by Saleem Badat (former Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University), proposes eleventheses that will frame our discussions of engagement and its relationship to the core purposesof universities. The second and third preliminary readings provide key concepts and issues forreflection in Workshop 1. Badat, S. (2013) ‘Eleven theses on community engagement at universities’. TheSocial Responsibility of Universities: Community and Civic Engagement – Contextand Big Picture. The 4th International Exhibition and Conference on Higher Education(4-IECHE), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 16-19 April 2013.Boyer, E. (1990) ‘The scholarship of engagement’. Journal of Higher EducationOutreach and Engagement, 1(1:11-20).Sandmann, L.R. (2009) ‘Placing scholarly engagement “on the desk”’. The ResearchUniversities Civic Engagement Network (TRUCEN), Civic Engagement at ResearchUniversities, Engaged Scholarship trucen-toolkit/Independent activities1. Reflective journalWe encourage participants to keep a reflective journal throughout the programme. Use yourjournal to reflect on how the readings, discussions and presentations might contribute to yourown current project, or planned project, in engaged scholarship. The reflective journal is alsothe place where you might begin drafting ideas towards the assignment which you willprepare for presentation in Workshop 4. Although the journal is for your own private use,from time to time the workshop facilitators will pose reflective questions as journal prompts.2. Assignment (due 29 July 2015)For presentation in Workshop 4: Prepare a portfolio documenting your engaged scholarshipor draft an engaged scholarship project proposal or draft a journal article that theorises andreflects on aspects of your engaged scholarship. This work may be done individually or in asmall group of participants with an interest in a common topic, problem or set of externalpartners for engagement. Detailed instructions for the assignment and suggested readings willbe posted on Vula.3

Engaged Scholarship Programme Outline, 29.03.2015Workshop 1: What are ‘scholarship’ and ‘engagement’ in Engaged Scholarship?Date and tors:12:00 – 15:00 Tuesday 7 April 2015 (Arrival time: 11:45)Seminar Room, Research Office, MowbrayDVC Crain SoudienShirley PendleburyDavid CooperSonwabo Ngcelwane, Judy Favish and Shirley PendleburyOBJECTIVES/OUTCOMES To appreciate why engaged scholarship is important to the mission of the universityTo understand some ideas and complexities in relation to the concept of ‘engagedscholarship’ and appreciate its historical development over the past 15 yearsTo appreciate why ‘engaged scholarship’ must be placed ‘on the desks’ of academicsTo provide some conceptual tools for thinking about and advancing the practice ofengaged scholarship at UCTTo reflect critically on the criteria of ‘quality engaged scholarship’, with particularreference to participants’ own current and/or future proposed academic workDESCRIPTIONProfessor Crain Soudien, DVC for transformation and social responsiveness will open theEngaged Scholarship Programme and welcome the participants. His address will consider therole of engaged scholarship in transformation. A brief introduction will give an overview ofthe programme and profile the participants, and their academic fields and their currentinterests in engaged scholarship. The main presentation will explore some central ideas andcomplexities in the notion of engaged scholarship (ES), chart its development over the past 15years and provide a critical overview of some key concepts and current approaches toengaged scholarship at universities internationally. Workshop activities will examine howparticipants view their past and future academic work at UCT with reference to UCT’s currentdefinition of engaged scholarship. The workshop will conclude with an activity which seeksto classify various forms of work by UCT academics ‘as ES’ and ‘not as ES’, and whichconsiders how valued such ES work is currently at UCT.READINGSNB: Please see the detailed plan for Workshop 1 for a full list of readings to be referred to inthis workshop. You will find the plan on our Vula site in Resources.In addition to preliminary readings listed on page 3 of this Programme Outline, the followingare among the core readings for Workshop 1: Sandmann, L.R. (2008) ‘Conceptualization of the scholarship of engagement inhigher education: a strategic review, 1996-2006’. Journal of Higher EducationOutreach and Engagement, 12(1:91-104). Jordan (ed.) (2007) ‘Characteristics of Quality Community-Engaged Scholarship’,Extract, pp. 5-10, Jordan (ed.) Community-Engaged Scholarship Review, Promotion& Tenure Package. Peer Review Workgroup, Community-Engaged Scholarship forHealth Collaborative, Community-Campus Partnership for Health (CCPH).http://depts.washington.edu/ccph/pdf files/CES RPT Package.pdf4