UCT has set a strategic goal to expand and enhance its contribution to South Africa's development challenges.
We are committed to engaged, policy-relevant research and teaching, as well as to expanding opportunities for students to become directly involved in socially-responsive learning. Our aim is to ensure that our research contributes to the public good through sharing knowledge for the benefit of society and through fostering in our students the acquisition of the civic literacy, knowledge and skills necessary to build a more just, equitable and unified South African society.
Work in this regard continues across campus, reflecting innovative partnerships between UCT academics and external stakeholders, including government at all levels, local communities, national and international social movements, continent-wide organisations, institutions from the global South, and various international organisations.
Our social responsiveness engagements take varied forms including:
research activities
engagement with policy development
public commentary on development issues and strategies
social outreach activities by students
programmes to empower external constituencies
the improvement of the relevance of the curriculum
providing opportunities for lifelong learning
Social Responsiveness Report
UCT produces an annual Social Responsiveness Report which makes the multiple ways in which the university engages with social, economic, cultural and political needs more visible to UCT and the wider community.
The report also stimulates ongoing debate within the university and in the broader social sector about the role of higher education in contributing to development.
UCT believes that focused engagement enhances excellence in both teaching and research. The report contributes to the university's public accountability, both reflecting on what it has achieved, and identifying through reflection and analysis what it still needs to do to improve.
UCT has developed a Conceptual Framework for Social Responsiveness which covers different kinds of activities and provides examples of the range of scholarly outputs that emanate from its activities.
The following activities are contained within the notion of social responsiveness:
Externally applied scholarly activities that match, contribute to, or engage with development and transformation challenges, policies or plans at international, continental, national, provincial, local or community levels
Production and dissemination of knowledge for the public good
Engagement with non-academic external constituencies
Public dialogue about development challenges
Volunteer activities amongst students
Community-based education or service learning
Compulsory and non-compulsory community service
Examples of scholarly activities
Strategic research
Monitoring, evaluation or project reports
Policy document preparation and review
Teaching in continuing-education courses
Models and monographs
Knowledge transfer through articles in popular journals, booklets, or the production of learning materials
Public dialogue, e.g. through newspaper articles
Submissions to government
Discussion papers
Maps and plans
Consultancies or contract research for public benefit
