Higher education now has a compendium on how to develop service-learning (SSL) specifically at that level. The Latin American Center for Service-Learning (CLAYSS) has just published the first volume of a manual that brings together global experience of service-learning since the late 19th century, and in particular, that recorded over the last five years by the global network Uniservitate.
The ‘Uniservitate Manual: Service-learning in Higher Education, Volume 1’ is a new work by María Nieves Tapia, founder and director of CLAYSS, with the collaboration of Alba González, Andrés Peregalli, and Alejandra Batista. It can be downloaded free of charge in English and Spanish from the Uniservitate Collection.
The book offers concrete suggestions for the foundation and planning of projects, keys to analysing experiences already developed or in progress, and numerous specific cases of good practices from many different parts of the world.
Although aimed at those involved and interested in education and social change, the work was specially designed for those who are already carrying out solidarity-based service-learning projects or plan to do so.
With this volume, the Uniservitate Collection adds a new format to its publications. Launched in 2021, the collection has so far featured two main editorial lines: ‘Claves’ (Keys), which includes four volumes on pedagogy, spirituality, institutionalisation and the history of service learning, and ‘Actas’ (Proceedings), which compiles the presentations from the Uniservitate international symposiums held since 2020.
This first edition is considered by its authors to be a ‘beta version’ as it will be enriched with the reflections, experiences and bibliographic or audiovisual resources provided by readers who agree to answer a short questionnaire at the end of the book. These contributions will be incorporated into a future definitive edition of the Manual, which will also be supplemented by a second volume, already in production, dedicated to the spiritual dimension of service-learning projects and the processes of institutionalising SLL in higher education.
The new Manual aims to be a contribution that transcends the institutional boundaries of education. In their presentation, the authors justify this aspiration by stating that, ‘in a world where war, polarisation, and the confrontational dynamics of trolls seem to dominate the scene, every experience of solidarity is a light of hope that shines, saying that all is not lost, and that it is always possible to build and rebuild a more sustainable and fraternal world.’
