Toward functional community engagement in academia: the Nigerian university experience
Academics who choose to engage in community service to fulfil their internal professional obligations often face challenges that force them to turn to private consultancy work outside of their university obligations. This is often for better remuneration and personal fulfilment, rather than a percei...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universiti Putra Malaysia Press
2018
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| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54219/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54219/1/Toward%20functional%20community%20engagement%20in%20academia.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848852485372903424 |
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| author | Adekalu, Samuel Olutokunbo Suandi, Turiman Krauss, Steven Eric Ismail, Ismi Arif |
| author_facet | Adekalu, Samuel Olutokunbo Suandi, Turiman Krauss, Steven Eric Ismail, Ismi Arif |
| author_sort | Adekalu, Samuel Olutokunbo |
| building | UPM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Academics who choose to engage in community service to fulfil their internal professional obligations often face challenges that force them to turn to private consultancy work outside of their university obligations. This is often for better remuneration and personal fulfilment, rather than a perceived importance to scholarly engagement in service to the immediate community. Although much research has been conducted on community engagement in higher education, few studies have explored how such work is sustained, especially among academics in non-Western universities. In response, this study sets out to explore sustainable community engagement among academics in Nigeria, where academic community engagement has recently been given a renewed emphasis by policy makers. The study utilized a qualitative case study approach, by way of in-depth interviews with nine professors from diverse academic fields of study in a community-based Nigerian university. The findings point to several potential strategies for making community engagement more sustainable, including incorporating community engagement into university policies, providing a more supportive institutional culture, facilitating engagement through reward and recognition of engaging academics, conducting continuous research into community problems, and encouraging engagement based on academics’ area of specialization. Implications to practice and suggestions for future research are also presented. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T10:38:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | upm-54219 |
| institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T10:38:50Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Universiti Putra Malaysia Press |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | upm-542192019-10-25T00:59:12Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54219/ Toward functional community engagement in academia: the Nigerian university experience Adekalu, Samuel Olutokunbo Suandi, Turiman Krauss, Steven Eric Ismail, Ismi Arif Academics who choose to engage in community service to fulfil their internal professional obligations often face challenges that force them to turn to private consultancy work outside of their university obligations. This is often for better remuneration and personal fulfilment, rather than a perceived importance to scholarly engagement in service to the immediate community. Although much research has been conducted on community engagement in higher education, few studies have explored how such work is sustained, especially among academics in non-Western universities. In response, this study sets out to explore sustainable community engagement among academics in Nigeria, where academic community engagement has recently been given a renewed emphasis by policy makers. The study utilized a qualitative case study approach, by way of in-depth interviews with nine professors from diverse academic fields of study in a community-based Nigerian university. The findings point to several potential strategies for making community engagement more sustainable, including incorporating community engagement into university policies, providing a more supportive institutional culture, facilitating engagement through reward and recognition of engaging academics, conducting continuous research into community problems, and encouraging engagement based on academics’ area of specialization. Implications to practice and suggestions for future research are also presented. Universiti Putra Malaysia Press 2018-06 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54219/1/Toward%20functional%20community%20engagement%20in%20academia.pdf Adekalu, Samuel Olutokunbo and Suandi, Turiman and Krauss, Steven Eric and Ismail, Ismi Arif (2018) Toward functional community engagement in academia: the Nigerian university experience. International Journal of Education and Training (InjET), 4 (1). pp. 1-9. ISSN ESSN: 2462-2079 http://www.injet.upm.edu.my/index.php/archives/vol-4-1-june-2018 |
| spellingShingle | Adekalu, Samuel Olutokunbo Suandi, Turiman Krauss, Steven Eric Ismail, Ismi Arif Toward functional community engagement in academia: the Nigerian university experience |
| title | Toward functional community engagement in academia: the Nigerian university experience |
| title_full | Toward functional community engagement in academia: the Nigerian university experience |
| title_fullStr | Toward functional community engagement in academia: the Nigerian university experience |
| title_full_unstemmed | Toward functional community engagement in academia: the Nigerian university experience |
| title_short | Toward functional community engagement in academia: the Nigerian university experience |
| title_sort | toward functional community engagement in academia: the nigerian university experience |
| url | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54219/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54219/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54219/1/Toward%20functional%20community%20engagement%20in%20academia.pdf |