Rural Community Engagement at Select Higher Education Institutions in West Bengal

Abstract

Community Engagement is a strategic process with the specific objectives of working with identified groups of people, addressing the issues affecting their well-being and bringing in sustainable social change. The importance of community engagement can be viewed in academics, research, policy design and practice. Objective: The objective of the article is to describe the community engagement carried out by select Higher Education Institutions in West Bengal, India. Methodology: This study is a mixed method research design, exploratory and descriptive by nature including both quantitative and qualitative data in terms of collection, analysis techniques and interpretation. The tools of data collection used were questionnaire and interview for quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. The analysis was done through IBM-SPSS for quantitative data and thematic analysis for qualitative data. The systematic random sampling technique was used and data was collected from 65 higher education institutions. The ethical considerations that guided this study consist of informed consent, respect and dignity, anonymity and digital data privacy. This study was conducted as part of a major research project funded by the Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education. Results: The results of the study display that there is a lack of specialisation courses on rural community development (3.1%, 2 out of 65 institutions) with the most concentration being in the form of compulsory individual courses (55.4%). The fieldwork module is a part of the curriculum at 63 institutions but is compulsory every semester at 16 of those institutions. A total of 34 responses mentioned that they have not started the process and 26 responses mentioned that they are in the process concerned with restructuring and revision of curriculum as per the National Education Policy, 2020. Conclusion: The study concludes that the relationship and role of community engagement in education are of mutual enhancement and an integrative approach is the way forward.

Keywords: Rural Community Engagement, Higher Education Institutions, West Bengal

View PDF