For residents in Bridgetown, a makeshift crossing point from one side of a canal to another had become a health and safety risk for anyone using it. A request sent from The Women's Circle - an NGO working in the area - to UCT's Knowledge Co-op asked if they could assist with researching and writing a motivation for the building of a footbridge. The co-op then went about finding the answers to key questions: who crosses the canal and why? Why are present routes avoided? Why is the temporary bridge inadequate? What benefits would the building of a footbridge bring?
Though the bridge is a real one in this instance, the UCT Knowledge Co-op has made it their business to build other types of bridges: metaphorical ones that cross the divide between issues that communities face in the real world, and the ways in which research at UCT can help close the gap.
According to an evaluation report published in July, the Co-op has met most of its deliverables and objectives during its pilot phase, and, says Barbara Schmid, project manager of the Knowledge Co-op, there are a number of reasons universities worldwide are investing more time and money to close this divide.
"Institutions funded by public money have a responsibility to produce research and outputs that make a contribution to issues of public concern," says Schmid. "It is also a valuable learning opportunity for students to have a chance to apply and test what they have learnt in a real context."
Launched in 2010 to boost the university's ability to share its expertise and resources with wider society, the Knowledge Co-op also aims to provide students and staff with opportunities to apply theories in real-life projects.
Community members or groups are invited to submit ideas for projects, and the Knowledge Co-op attempts to find the best-suited UCT staff and students to help them complete the project. Students need to produce an academic paper, but the Knowledge Co-op works to disseminate the knowledge in other forms, too, whether in a poster, policy brief, workshop, or on their website.
During the pilot phase, 121 ideas for projects were submitted from 57 different community entities, with "just under one-fifth of viable projects" under way, says the report. Just short of one-third of the "viable" projects have been completed, and research outputs are either already available or are being finalised.
There were some challenges; Schmid reports that sometimes "real-life issues don't quite fit disciplinary boundaries", while there is also a need for more "hands on board".
Fundraising to keep the Co-op going beyond the pilot phase and employ student interns is crucial for its sustainability, says Schmid. She and her Co-op colleagues, in the meantime, are preparing for a "string of projects" for when the 2014 students arrive.
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Story by Yusuf Omar