This article contributes to conceptualisations of public engagement as part of academic practice in higher education. It uses Hannah Arendt's idea of action in the public sphere, which is underpinned by the belief that all have the capacity to contribute to the renewal of the world, and that we are equally different. It argues that public…

This article considers the role of university staff and students in camps for the unemployed in interwar Britain. These ventures can be seen as showing continuities both with nineteenth-century social service initiatives like the educational settlements, but also with contemporary concerns with service learning. The article explores three camping…

This paper explores how civic engagement as an important dimension of public engagement in higher education has been slow to develop in the UK, despite an important history dating from the "civic universities" in the nineteenth century. I specifically consider the development of "service learning" as an important way in which…

The Youth Volunteer Corps of Canada promotes a lifelong service ethic while developing job-related skills. It is successful because it makes community service interesting and age appropriate, it treats youth volunteers with respect, and it meets real community needs. (SK)

"Service Without Guns"--by Donald J. Eberly and Reuven Gal with a guest chapter by Michael Sherraden--notes the many similarities between military service and civilian National Youth Service (NYS) and concludes that NYS can and should become as large and influential in the 21st Century as military service was in the 20th. The book…

This study examined English teenagers' community involvement. Participants were all 14-16-year-old students in 3 large public schools (rural, urban, and suburban), none of which had service learning as part of the curriculum. Over 1,000 students completed questionnaires that examined regular and one-time involvement in community service activities…

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 1994-95 survey indicate that about one-fifth of the adult population volunteers. Estimated value of their work is 3% of the gross national product, $12.5 billion. However, volunteer training is neglected in the National Strategy for Vocational Education and Training (VET). A seminar was conducted to…

Describes common elements of service learning emerging from case studies. Focuses on national service programs. Common successful strategies found in Kuliah Kenja Nyata (KKN) program at Indonesian universities and We Care and Share elementary school program in Nova Scotia. Studies programs' development, fiscal considerations, and service…

Describes development of the first community service-learning program for democratic education in South Africa, based on the Swarthmore College (Pennsylvania) Democracy Education Project at a black high school near Capetown (South Africa). Notes that successful transposition of the model requires recognition of complex historical and cultural…