From Rhetoric to Praxis: Towards a University-Community Collaboration Model

Abstract

University and tertiary institutions in general are meant to meet the socio-economic challenges of 
the local and global societies. Unless these institutions do something to transform their curriculum 
practices, the objective to address the 21st century challenges will remain a dream. This paper 
explores the engagement practices between universities and the communities in two selected 
provinces of Zimbabwe. Two universities, a state-owned and a church-owned one, were 
purposively selected to take part in this qualitative study. The participants were two deans of 
faculties, four lecturers drawn from the respective universities and four community members, two 
from each of the local communities of the universities under study. These responded to semi
structured interviews on the extent of their engagements and how they would improve on their 
collaboration. Findings revealed a loose and fragile collaboration between the university and the 
community. The study proffers a model for university and community engagement. The study 
concluded that power differentials between the universities and the local communities result in no 
meaningful engagements to transform the livelihood of the people. It is recommended that 
universities and communities use the proposed model for effective engagement.