Towards a sustainable model for ODL professional programmes : the Social Work Programme at Unisa as a case study

Abstract

The Department of Social Work at Unisa has been piloting two strategic projects to enable their students to be exposed to work-integrated service learning in a variety of contexts. The innovative community engagement project has received international recognition and acclaim. On 16 March 2011, the Bright Site Project was formally notified it had achieved second place in the Mac Jannet Prize for Global Citizenship in Madrid, Spain. The Talloires Network member universities around the world contribute to ongoing public service efforts. Of the 75 nominations, from 59 Universities in 26 countries, received by the Talloires Network for outstanding student civic community engagement initiatives, Unisa’s Bright Site Project was recognised for its continued civic engagement. The extent to which the project contributes to creating a sustainable ODL model within a professional training programme forms the focus of the submission. This research-in-progress study shares the scope and rationale of the project, its achievements and reflections on the barriers experienced. A comparative analysis of the two implementation sites, one in an urban setting and the other a rurally based extension, will be shared to highlight the challenges for sustainable and quality provisioning. The planned impacts of curriculum renewal in this professional domain, and the processes for the effective institutionalisation of the insights and lessons from the project for Unisa as an ODL comprehensive university, are discussed.