the conceptualisation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of approximately 200 accredited academic courses in 39 academic disciplines across nine HEI campuses involving more than 6 000 students ranging from first year to master's level. All courses were designed to incorporate the principles and practice of service learning (CHE 2004).
The next section will provide an overview of South African higher education legislation as well as the policies that specifically focus on community engagement as this forms the core of this study.
3.5.1.1 South African higher education legislation and policies relevant to community engagement
Cloete (2002:94-95) points out that, following the 1994 election, it was promulgated that the Commission of Higher Education must "preserve what is valuable and address what is defective and requires transformation". The appointment of the Commission was a continuation of a policy formulation process that started in the late 1980s. The first major policy document that formed the basis for the development of higher education policy during the 1990s was the Post Secondary Education report of the National Education Policy Investigation. As this was the first initiative in the policy- making process, it focused more on frameworks and options than actual policy proposals. Maassen and Cloete (2002:21-22) emphasise that it is important to understand the relationship between policy intentions and policy outcomes in South African higher education because of the relationship between educational and economic reform agendas. In South Africa, there is tension between the higher education reform agenda which emphasises national themes such as redress, democratisation and equity, and the global reform agenda which promotes themes such as efficiency, competition, effectiveness and responsiveness. The national higher education agenda in South Africa has been made compliant with the global reform agenda.
Lazarus (2000:4) states that although over the past few years the issue of community service has been debated and many deliberations and policy documents in higher education in South Africa surfaced, Education White Paper 3 (1997) laid the foundation for the inclusion of community service as part of the higher education institutional transformation in South Africa. Other documents that followed include the Higher Education Act (1997) and the National Plan for Higher Education (2001).
(a) White Paper on the Transformation of Higher Education
As mentioned, the Department of Education's White Paper on the Transformation of Higher Education (DoE, 1997) laid the foundation for making community service an integral and core part of higher education in South Africa. This White Paper sets out broad national goals and refers to CE as an integral and core part of higher education in South Africa. The White Paper makes specific reference to the role that CE can play in transforming the higher education system, and calls on HEIs to "demonstrate social responsibility and their commitment to the common good by making available their expertise and infrastructure for community service programmes" (DoE 1997:10; CHE 2006).
The White Paper (DoE 1997) states that higher education plays a central role in the social, cultural and economic development of modern societies. It further states that, in South Africa, the challenge is to redress past inequalities and to transform the higher education system to serve a new social order, to meet pressing national needs and to respond to new realities and opportunities. It has to lay the foundations for the development of a learning society which can stimulate, direct and mobilise the creative and intellectual energies of all the people towards meeting the challenge of reconstruction and development.
This White Paper also makes specific references to the role of community service within the overarching task of transforming the higher education system (DoE 1997). It calls on institutions to demonstrate their commitment both to the common good and to social responsibility. This can be achieved by making their expertise and infrastructure available.
The White Paper (DoE 1997:10) defines four objectives of higher education; two of the four can be related to the community service obligation of HEIs. Firstly, it is "to address
the development needs of society" and, secondly, "to contribute to the socialization of enlightened, responsible and constructively critical citizens". The White Paper (DoE, 1997:11) further identifies specific needs and challenges that relate to HEIs' community service obligation. This includes the inability of higher education systems (as observed at the time the White Paper was written) to "meet the moral, political, social and economic demands of the new South Africa". It further states that "higher education has an unmatched obligation to help lay the foundations of a critical civil society" and that "the sense of common citizenship and commitment to a common good" must be strengthened. The paper also states that one of the requirements for transformation of the higher education system includes responsiveness to societal interests and needs. The White Paper (DoE 1997:10-11) also refers to the role of community service in the overarching task of transforming the higher education system in South Africa. Two objectives specifically refer to social responsibility. The one objective, at national level, is to promote and develop social responsibility and awareness among students of the role of higher education in social and economic development. This should be achieved through community service programmes (DoE 1997:10-11; Lazarus 2000:4; Lazarus 2001:1; Erasmus 2005:3; Bender 2007:130). The White Paper (DoE 1997:11) also shows an interest in community service programmes for students to harness the social commitment and energy of young people.
The HEQC (2006a:4) summarises the objectives of the White Paper as clear signals for HEIs to review their societal purpose and to develop strategic initiatives to give effect to these goals. It is emphasised that these initiatives should be integrated in the core business of HEIs, namely teaching, research and community service. Therefore, community service should become embedded in the culture and values of HEIs through service learning, thus ensuring that students, HEI staff and the community benefit from such initiatives.
(b) Higher Education Act
The Higher Education Act (1997) builds on the White Paper and provides a legislative framework for the recommendations of the White Paper. The Act puts structures in place for the state to oversee the successful functioning of HE in South Africa and
gives official recognition to the new South African higher education system. As stated in the Act, its purpose is:
"to provide for the establishment, composition and functions of a Council on Higher Education; to provide for the establishment, governance and funding of public higher education institutions; to provide for the appointment and functions of an independent assessor; to provide for the registration of private higher education institutions; to provide for quality assurance and quality promotion in higher education; to provide for transitional arrangements and the repeal of certain laws; and to provide for matters connected therewith" (RSA 1997:1).
This Act also makes provision for the establishment of the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) as a permanent subcommittee of the Council on Higher Education (CHE). The CHE was established to facilitate and regulate the transformation of higher education. The founding document of the HEQC also identified academically based community service as one of the three areas for the quality assurance of higher education, along with teaching and research (HEQC 2006a:4-5). The Higher Education Act is followed by a National Plan which elaborates on a set of strategic objectives, benchmarks and operational frame for progress towards transformation (CHE, 2004:36).
(c) The National Plan for Higher Education
The National Plan for Higher Education (NPHE) (2001) provides the framework and mechanisms for the restructuring of the higher education system to achieve the vision and goals for the transformation of the higher education system outlined in the Department of Education's White Paper 3 and the Higher Education Act (Ministry of Education 2001). This is done through an implementation framework and the required interventions for the transformation of HEIs. This document further aims to provide achievable goals with deadlines for implementation to make transformation substantially more than just a paper exercise, as it had been previously (Ministry of Education 2001).
The previous section focused on South African higher education and community engagement policies. However, it is also essential to determine the current state of community engagement in South African higher education.
3.5.1.2 Current state of community engagement in South African higher