The whole is greater than the sum of its parts: a case study of the nexuses between teaching, research and service

ABSTRACTUniversities attend to multiple demands, making it challenging to identify their particular academic project, which can be defined as how the university understands its key purposes and develops its organisation and activities in service of such. While the three pillars of higher education – teaching, research, and service – are cited as being core to the modern university, it is the nexus between them that provides the particular institutional identity and purpose. While nexuses exist in every university, the form such nexuses take varies considerably across university types, geographical contexts, student bodies, and programmes. We investigate the nature of the nexuses in one South African university through an analysis of observations, interviews, documents, and a survey. The study suggests that several mechanisms strengthen the nexuses of this university, including geographical positioning, institutional history and an explicitly articulated set of values. It cautions however that the nexuses can be constrained by other mechanisms at play. We argue that there is need for reflecting on and strengthening nexuses within universities in the interests of clarifying the specific academic project. Without this, universities can be swayed in any direction and can lose sight of the identity they would like to claim for themselves.KEYWORDS: Nexusesteachingresearchservicecommunity engagementacademic project AcknowledgementThe authors are grateful to those who participated and contributed to this study by generously sharing their experiences.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 The third pillar, service, is called by various names in different countries such as ‘community engagement’ and ‘outreach’, with subtle distinctions in meaning. In some university systems, the term service includes service to the institution such as sitting on committees and participating in fund raising (Adonis, Citation2014). In South Africa the term service entails engagement with communities beyond the university walls. We use the terms ‘service’ and ‘community engagement’ interchangeably in this article.2 Survey and interview protocols are available on request.3 Service-learning is the most direct example of the teaching-community engagement nexus whereby working with communities is part of the formal curriculum and designed to enhance the students’ learning experiences as much as it is designed to address needs and goals specified by community members.4 Makhanda is the new name of the town previously called Grahamstown. Grahamstown was named in 1812 after Lieutenant-Colonel Graham who used scorched earth tactics to establish the area as a British military outpost. Makhanda Nxele led the battle against Graham and was imprisoned on Robben Island.