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A service learning (SL) course is carried out at higher education institutions in cooperation with community partners to facilitate the development of students’ civic engagement. It consists of several phases, including the identification of a social need; the development and implementation of a concept to meet that need; and, above all, the reflection of this experience. In practice, however, the concept takes different forms with diverging goals. In this chapter, we map out the framework conditions and institutional contexts in which SL courses are based at the University for Continuing Education Krems (Austria) and the Babes-Bolyai University (Romania). We focus on the extent to which SL has become integrated within the policy and practice of every university and illustrate how corresponding circumstances, such as specific characteristics of the faculty and the student population, lead to different variations. In some cases, that context does not support the articulation of a shared understanding around the purpose and practice of SL. We therefore draw on critical reflections collected through interviews with module leaders to describe courses with SL components from both institutions. Ultimately, more needs to be done within each institution to put in place the necessary resources and support systems for the articulation of shared understandings. Some of these challenges must be understood in a broader institutional context in which the courses are located, which is why we include general and specific recommendations to create favorable conditions for the institutionalization of SL in the last part of the paper.

Historically, academic careers in many European universities have been characterized by the civil servant status of academics (i.e., an open vacancy model) based on the German Lehrstuhl (professorial chair) tradition. The chair system has been abandoned in many countries, and the status of civil servants has been changed to private employment. At the same time, many European universities have introduced some variant of the tenure track model to increase the attractiveness of academic careers at their institutions; however, open vacancy models continue to dominate academic careers in Europe. This chapter describes recent changes in academic promotion systems using case examples from tenure track models in two European countries, Finland and Austria. In conclusion, this chapter offers examples based on the best practices and challenges identified in the analyzed tenure track models.

Higher education goes beyond classroom teaching and emphasizes on community and democratic participation of students and teachers who are expected to practice inclusive education and support the needs of the community and a diverse group of stakeholders. In the 1990s a new form of experiential learning started evolving in higher education where students were given credits to become more empathetic and address the needs of humanity or their immediate community. Curriculum were improvised to include volunteering services, internships and integrating them to the existing teaching learning needs. However, a fine line does exist about how inclusive education should be and what dimensions of community services can be included in the curriculum. This book is a collection of case studies and interventions adopted by academics across the globe to explain and explore the concepts of social responsibility in education, social justice and civility. The current pandemic situation has made it increasingly difficult for students to explore gaps in society and work toward mitigating it. Academics have showcased that online learning doesn’t mean an end to service learning, but it can be enhanced, and students can continue to be agents of social change. The volume describes the concept of service learning as a model, as a pedagogical tool, a framework that can be inculcated in different areas higher education.