This paper proposes a model for conceptualising, managing and enacting partnerships between higher education institutions and community through service learning. Service learning offers students the experience of applying their learning in the community, often a community in need, to the mutual benefit of the student (through the learning gained) and the community (through the service or product provided). Definitions and conceptualisations of service-learning (Bringle & Hatcher, 1996) often focus on notions of civic responsibility, mutual benefit and partnerships. 

In addition to civic responsibility, service learning is a practical way in which universities can develop graduate attributes in their students. Bath, Smith, Stein and Swann (2004) point out that graduate attributes or qualities include critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, problem-solving, logical and independent thought, communication and information management skills, intellectual rigour, creativity and imagination, ethical practice, integrity and tolerance” (pp. 313-314). These are at the heart of a tertiary education. The European commission’s report (2013) into improving the quality of teaching and learning in higher education proposes that graduates need an education “… that enables them to engage articulately as committed, active, thinking, global citizens as well as economic actors in the ethical, sustainable development of our societies.” p.16

There is a growing body of research that confirms the link between service learning and enhanced student engagement, academic outcomes and rates of retention (Astin & Sax, 1998; Astin, Vogelgesang, Ikeda, & Yee, 2000; O’Hara, 2001; Duffy et al., 2008; Prentice & Robinson, 2010).  The benefits of a well-designed service learning experience seem to be unanimously embraced in the literature, and it has been defined as a high impact practice (Kuh, 2008) and a form of transformative learning (Mezirow, 1991, 1995, 1996). According to Mezirow (1991, 1995, 1996) transformative learning is the process of effecting change in a frame of reference. For learning to be genuinely transformative for students and communities, both need practice in to recognizing frames of reference and using their imaginations to redefine problems from a different perspective.

More recently in his report for the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) entitled High Impact Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them and Why They Matter?, Kuh (2008) listed service learning among a number of other high impact practices (including common intellectual experiences, learning communities, internships and undergraduate research and others) and asserted that they were crucial to the attainment of student learning outcomes. To this end he goes on to call for universities and colleges to engineer opportunities for students to engage in at least two of these practices, “to ensure all students have opportunities and access to achieving the learning outcomes with high impact practices related to retention and success” (McReynolds, 2014, p.82).

This paper describes a conceptual model for transformative service learning which addresses the call by bringing together the two high impact practices of service learning and undergraduate research in one educational experience.  It draws on the individual experience of the authors in undergraduate research and service learning and imagines the nexus of the two.

It also acknowledges that this is not without significant barriers and recognises that, whilst institutions embrace the concept service learning, these experiences can be plagued by practical and administrative difficulties (Honnet & Poulsen, 1989; Morton & Troppe, 1996; Bringle & Hatcher, 2000; Furco & Holland, 2004; Schaffer, 2004; Zlotkowski et al., 2004). It proposes a conceptual model for transformative service learning and makes the case for a mediating body or organisation that can act as a conduit between institutions and communities addressing many of the legal, administrative and functional hurdles that are problematic in developing genuine, sustainable partnerships with community. (Billig &Eyler, 2004).

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