The KU Provides International Impulses for Service-Learning at Universities.

The event was framed by the international network "Uniservitate," which is funded by the Porticus Foundation. Since 2020, the KU has been one of seven worldwide hubs promoting Service-Learning at Catholic universities. The KU acts as a regional interface for partner organizations in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East, including Bethlehem University (Palestine), John Paul II Catholic University in Lublin (Poland), and the Ukrainian Catholic University Lviv (Ukraine).

"Our vision is for our university to build bridges between science and society. This is not only stated in the KU mission statement, but also how we shape our research and study programs. Through special Service-Learning formats, we work to ensure that our students take responsibility for society, both in their own country and worldwide. The Uniservitate program is an ideal platform for developing further Service-Learning concepts in collaboration with the international community of Catholic partner universities," emphasizes Prof. Dr. Klaus Stüwe, KU Vice President for International Affairs and Profile Development.

Several workshops at the recent conference allowed participants to share their knowledge and experiences regarding community-oriented engagement that is firmly anchored in higher education. Guests at the event came from Argentina, Poland, Palestine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Slovakia, and Austria.

Keynotes by Andy Furco and María Rosa Tapia provided participants with scientific impulses from highly qualified experts regarding the question of the significant added value that Service-Learning offers to students, partners, and educators.

Andrew Furco is the Associate Vice President for Public Engagement at the University of Minnesota, where he also serves as a professor of education. His research focuses on investigating the role of civic engagement and Service-Learning in the US education system. From 1994 to 2007, he worked at the University of California-Berkeley as the founding director of the Service-Learning Research and Development Center. In his lecture, Furco demonstrated why colleges and universities benefit from Service-Learning, even though non-profit engagement is not the primary goal and task of higher education institutions. Rather, research, teaching, internationalization, and even fundraising for research projects are the focus. However, as at the KU, there are often many non-profit initiatives and efforts to engage students on campuses worldwide. Furco showed why more investment is still needed in the integration of Service-Learning into higher education institutions. For example, when applying for research grants, universities must precisely describe the societal added value of the research. Furthermore, they must demonstrate how they can contribute to improving relationships between urban and rural areas, sustainability and regional development, or addressing societal challenges. Therefore, Service-Learning and community engagement become part of the higher education strategy to achieve these goals. Finally, empirical studies show that students who participate in Service-Learning projects demonstrate greater social responsibility regarding sustainability, ethics, diversity, and social justice.

María Rosa Tapia is the coordinator of the Uniservitate Service-Learning Program. She holds a Bachelor of Education and a Master's degree in Education Technology, and has taught Service-Learning courses and workshops for educational institutions and social organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean, the United States, Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kenya. Currently, she is the coordinator for higher education at CLAYSS, responsible for the Service-Learning Program in Catholic higher education "UNISERVITATE", as well as teacher training at the University of Buenos Aires. In her contribution, she presented a project from Cali (Colombia), a region characterized by coffee production, drug cartels, and 40 years of civil war. Tapia described an interdisciplinary Service-Learning project with "Casa Alero" and the Garittea Café.

Both partners and students benefited from the project. Coffee producers achieved better incomes and worked in stronger cooperatives. Students developed professional skills through problem-based learning in community-based, interdisciplinary projects, which simultaneously enriched teaching and research on service learning. Overall, the project with Casa Alero and the café contributed to sustainable local development for students and the neighborhood.

Further information about the Uniservitate network and the KU's involvement can be found at www.ku.de/studium/lehrprofil/service-learning.