Background
The University of Kisubi (UniK) was admitted to the global consortium for Service Learning (SL) under the auspices of UNISERVITATE in December 2020. UNISERVITATE is an umbrella organisation that brings together over 20 Catholic-founded universities and institutions of higher education worldwide, which embrace Service Learning as a novel pedagogy for 21st century education. The Service Learning pedagogy champions problem-based active learning, where learners are placed at the center of the entire learning process and experiences as a way of equipping them to translate the knowledge and skills they learn in class into practical solutions to the challenges they encounter everyday, individually and in the communities where they live. That way, the learners are appropriately prepared not only to become drivers of positive change and social transformation within their immediate and remote communities, but also to cultivate their capabilities for engaged citizenship that equips them to always strive to improve their living conditions and those of their communities. The Service Learning Programme was officially launched at our University during a colourful ceremony that took place in November 2024. Henceforth, the Service Learning Day will be marked and celebrated annually on the University calendar to underscore the unique place Service Learning occupies in the University’s educational vision and mission – more so as a Catholic institution of higher education – as well as to celebrate its milestones and impacts, particularly through its endeavours to instil in the learners the civic values of service and community, by actively participating in the University’s community engagement programmes. Accordingly, the programme’s theme has been conceived clearly to serve that purpose.
The Aims and Goals of the Second Edition of the Essay Competition
Just like its first edition, this Second Edition of the Service Learning Essay Competition will be a platform for sensitizing the students’ fraternity and the wider University community about Service Learning. It will also generate and disseminate a body of knowledge about Service Learning and its benefits to the University community and society at large. But even more importantly, the Service Learning Coordination Team will obtain valuable feedback on how much the University community – particularly the students’ body – knows about the Service Learning Programme and its promoters and partners, as well as what needs to be done to enhance the vision and mission of Service Learning in the University.
Yet, unlike the first edition, this round of the essay competition will seek views from among the students’ fraternity on how best to concretize, implement and scale-up the Service Learning Projects already at their inception or in initial stages of implementation, as well as receive innovative ideas on which new projects the Serve Learning Coordination Team can explore and consider for its edge-cutting community engagement initiatives, moving forward.
Who Can Participate?
The competition is open to all the students of the University of Kisubi. Meanwhile, the Service Learning Coordination Team wishes to extend its heartfelt congratulations to the winners of the first round of the Essay competition who were specially recognized and awarded their prizes on the occasion of the programme launch, on 4th November 2023.
How to Participate
Essays should be beween 2000-3,000 words?, and, in their broad structure, they should demonstrate the writer’s general as well as specific knowledge about Service Learning as an emerging educational pedagogy of preference globally; University of Kisubi’s vision, mission, goals and objectives of the Service Learning Programme as well as its milestones so far; University of Kisubi’s promoters and partners on the Service Learning Programme; the benefits of University of Kisubi’s membership to the global and regional Service Learning networks; and the prospects for a stronger and more vibrant Service Learning Programme at University of Kisubi.
In the specific submissions, the essays should address any of the following areas:
- Projects Already at their Inception or in Initial Stages of Implementation
Under this category, the essays should provide compelling views and concrete suggestions on how students and the wider community can actively take part in the implementation and scaling-up of the projects already in existence for them to achieve the desirable level of up-take and impact both at the level of the immediate University community, and across the broader spectrum of the University’s reach. Furthermore, the essays should demonstrate the sustainability prospects of the projects, including but not limited to raising the necessary resources, attracting and bringing new members on board, identifying suitable partnerships and collaborations, and the possible contribution of the projects to the overall teaching, learning and research experiences of the University – among which, production of new knowledge, knowledge transfer and curriculum reforms. The projects under this category are:
- Bulungi Bwansi programmes – for the care of Mother Nature and the environment on- and off-campus, to promote the common good, cleanliness, general welfare, safety and well-being of the communities
- Service Learning Tree Green Campaign for Schools – to raise awareness and promote the culture of safeguarding a clean, safe and green environment among the learners of participating educational institutions
- The Service Learning Endowment – to mobilise financial resources and other forms of assistance to support financially challenged students
- Waste Management and Recycling.
- The Service Learning Club – a student-led platform to promote the Service Learning agenda across the University’s students’ body
- Innovative Ideas for Developing New Learner-led Service Learning Projects
Essays under this category should follow the parameters set out in No. 1 above, of course clearly articulating the writer’s innovative idea and its suitability within the overall framework of the vision and mission of Service Learning, in the context of the University of Kisubi. The essays should equally demonstrate how or to what extent would the proposed ideas/projects put the students/learners at the forefront, in the course of their implementation.
What You Stand to Gain If You Participate
A cash prize of UGX 500,000 will be awarded to the best essay and that of UGX 300,000 to each of the two runners-up? In addition, the names of all the participants in the competition will be published on the University website, together with the best five essays. Similarly, some of the best essays from the competition will be shared with our wide readership within our partners’ networks worldwide.
Submission
Essays will be received in electronic form only, and should be emailed to: servicelearning@unik.ac.ug, not later than 31 August 2024.
For further information or any queries regarding this announcement, please contact servicelearning@unik.ac.ug
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This is a good initiative to enable both the staff and students of UniK learn more about service learning. As usual SL leads and others follow
Wow I like this thank you so much it’s a good idea
The essay competition, the most innovative and best experienced learning, so brilliant