Promoting Students’ Civic Responsibilities through Community Engagement at Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Students are to be educated and prepared to engage with communities. Citizen participation is assumed to result in decisions that are better than could have been made without the involvement of community members (Ianniello et al., 2019). Higher education institutions that promote students‘ social and civic responsibilities through community engagement contribute to the socio-economic development of the country (Maistry & Thakrar, 2012, p. 65). At the same time, students and faculty benefit from applying their knowledge and skills to real-world problems, which has been shown to have positive impacts on student academic performance, civic engagement, self-efficacy and self-esteem, and leadership capacity (Hahn et al., 2020). Therefore, the course ―Participation Management: tools for citizen engagement and community empowerment― was created while implementing HEIsCITI project (―Higher Education Institutions as Innovative Triggers of Sustainable Development in European Cities in Post COVID-19 Era‖ (KA220-HED-96EB51E1)). The study aims at revealing students‘ opinions on the piloted university study course ―Participation Management: tools for citizen engagement and community empowerment ―. Students were involved in a continuous reflection process.