Third-level institutions are responding to an over-emphasis on the economy in education with new community-based programmes, writes Iain Mac Labhrainn.
At this time of year, there is celebration in the air as students move on to third-level education, laying the foundations for their future as citizens of 21st-century Ireland.
Often the focus from guidance teachers and parents alike is on career options, and this echoes to some extent the tendency for Government to emphasise the economic contribution of higher education to the new "knowledge economy".
It is undoubtedly true that a modern, successful country is reliant on a highly educated workforce - one that is both adaptable and creative in responding to the needs of a global economy.
However, there is growing concern among some that the predominant role of the market and financial considerations in contemporary life may ultimately lead to a new "social impoverishment" and a weakening of wider, non-monetary values.
Our relentless drive for economic growth, it can be claimed, is riding roughshod over traditions of community and mutual support. Where, then, is there space and time to share and debate these concerns?
From the Government, there has been some recognition of this dilemma, as evidenced in Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's interest in the work of Robert Putnam (contestable though some of this may be) and the establishment of the Taskforce on Active Citizenship.
As part of a wider conversation about the role of universities in society, Dr Garret FitzGerald gave a public speech in NUI Galway late last year in which he highlighted the potential of educational institutions in nurturing debate on the shape of the new Ireland.
In practical terms what might this mean? How can we reinvigorate the civic mission of higher education and ensure that students engage with wider society as part of their individual, personal educational development? How can we ensure that such initiatives are embedded within institutions and are not just peripheral, well-meaning, but ultimately unsustainable projects?
Some of us have begun to ask such questions and we have learned much from pilot projects and international experience.
In the US, for example, presidents of more than 1,000 universities and colleges have signed a declaration of intent, penned by Campus Compact (http://www.compact.org), which commits them to raising the levels of civic awareness and participation among their student body and in the overall mission of their institutions.
In Ireland, we have begun to see the early stages of a similar movement emerging from projects such as NUI Galway's Community Knowledge Initiative.
As part of this project, more than 1,000 students have been awarded certificates in recognition of their commitment to volunteering. In addition, almost 20 academic programmes are running or piloting "service" or community-based learning.
This form of teaching integrates civic participation with degree programmes, providing credit for the academic work that arises. Students on such programmes work with community groups, NGOs or other civil society organisations on projects and small-scale research activity.
Effective service-learning is based on a partnership model that provides benefit to both the community organisation and the students concerned, and is far removed from the more traditional approach of simply "studying" a social issue in academic isolation. However, the approach is not just associated with those subjects that one might expect to have a particular vocational dimension, although many of these are indeed keen proponents.
In fields such as mechanical engineering, for example, each year students are challenged to develop engineering solutions to particular social needs (for example, those of physically disabled people) and the creativity unleashed in the process is shared in an annual exhibition. Students across a broad range of disciplines are participating in service or community-based learning.
Each year increasing numbers of academic staff are supported in exploring opportunities for civic engagement within their curricula.
Earlier this year, in the first tranche of funding from its Strategic Innovation Fund, the Higher Education Authority supported the establishment of a new national network on "civic engagement, student volunteering and active citizenship" to provide training and support across the sector.
These are still early days, but the energy and enthusiasm of the staff, students and community organisations with whom we have worked show that there is clearly a hunger for this type of activity.
Moreover, there is an emerging recognition that universities and other institutions of higher education have a vital and worthwhile contribution to make to the debates on active citizenship and social justice.
Dr Iain Mac Labhrainn is director of NUI Galway's Centre for Excellence in Learning & Teaching and co-editor of Higher Education and Civic Engagement: International Perspectives, Ashgate Publishing, 2007. This piece was held over at the last minute from yesterday's edition