SLS-5f The mandate of the OSL

The International Conference on Service-Learning was organised to promote research. But there were some uncertainty whether research is actually part of the mandate of the OSL.  The OSL team ourselves were sure, from the very beginning, that we need to do our own research for many reasons - to inform our practice, to validate the pedagogy, to establish credibility of what we are doing, to help to advance the field through our sizeable program, and simply to challenge ourselves to become a centre of excellence.  

However, management seemed skeptical of at least part of that vision.   In fact, several senior members of management, at different times, have remarked that research on SL , if PolyU is to do it, should be carried out by academic departments, but not OSL, as we are considered a “non-academic” department.  

There is no doubt that academic departments have a clear mandate to conduct research, and that reasonably can include research on SL, which they teach.  However, OSL, as a central unit tasked to promote SL across the university, is involved in all aspects of the SL initiatives: creating new subjects, creating new projects, vetting subject proposals, supporting and co-teaching many of the subjects, finding suitable partners, exploring new opportunities, sites, communities and countries, soliciting funding, etc.  As the central unit responsible foe the program, OSL has the broadest perspective of the wide range of SL subjects and projects across the university.  In contrast, most academic departments offer only, at the most, a few SL subjects in their own discipline. The central office is in connection and actual collaboration with many practitioners and researchers across the world. To most people outside of PolyU, we are the face representing SL at PolyU.  Finally, the central office is tasked to collect data on many aspects of the SL program, in order to validate the effectiveness of the implementation for the university.  All of these factors make it imperative for PolyU to conduct relevant research, and OSL is best placed to conduct that research.  In fact, without conducting appropriate research, the OSL will not be able to carry out much of its functions properly, and PolyU will not have a credible program.  It will be also grossly wasteful of the vast experience and data that we are accumulating.  Further, when OSL conducts research-related activities such as organising conferences, applies for funding, etc., most of the time it is in collaboration with academic departments.  Research by OSL and research by academic departments are not mutually exclusive.  

It is not just in the area of research that OSL is achieving beyond its original mandate as perceived by some members of management.  Many considered the mandate of OSL as supporting the development of a sufficient number of SL subjects only - to enable the students to fulfil the requirement to take at least one subject in SL.  Anything beyond is not necessarily part of the mandate.  Most would not dispute with OSL undertaking staff development, development of e-Learning modules, etc., as activities relevant to supporting the core SL requirement.  

While we are developing and offering training programs for our own staff, however, the marginal effort required in extending the training to the staff of other universities in Hong Kong, even foreign universities in the region is relatively modest.  Yet it validates the quality of our program and applicability to other universities, opens new venues of cross-institution collaboration, creates benefits for the high education community, enhances our standing in the global community, and helps to improve our academic ranking. It even generates a modest stream of income for the university.   

Similarly, we have developed, and continue to develop electronic resources to supplement and enhance our teaching of SL.  Once developed, the marginal effort in making them available and suitable for an international audience, and translation fro English into Chinese for the Mainland China community are relatively modest.  Yet it offers much appreciated assistance to many other universities.  In fact, we have made it a matter of principle that we do not make use of our own funds to extend these resources to serve other universities.  We have been able to secure funding support for these efforts for the benefits of the wider community.  

Internationalization is a major area in which our efforts can be seen as extending beyond the boundary of the core mandate on SL.  Originally we embark on service-learning in foreign countries because it creates greater impact on our students as well as the community in the area of service-learning, hence it is fully within our mandate.  At the same time, impactful service-learning for communities in foreign countries in desperate needs creates great benefits for our students much beyond those achievable through normal student exchange tours to foreign countries. Hence international service-learning is making great contributions to the internationalisation efforts of the university.  Again, for many years, the travelling expenses of most of the international SL projects had been funded by donations and other sources beyond normal university funding.  It has enabled us to create many innovative and impactful projects.  it has also helped us make many new friends of leading universities in so many countries which would not have happened.  It has also enabled us to extend the range of our recruitment of foreign students, particularly those talented and deserving students from developing countries. 

It can perhaps be said that we have been creating our own mandate, instead of waiting for our mandate to be decided by others.  All of it driven by the belief in the powerful pedagogy of service-learning and civic engagement, the vision of pushing the boundary of what is achievable and the desire to become a centre of excellence in everything that we do.  It is this belief, vision and desire that has attracted many to our team and forging us together as a team.