Student experiences of service learning through a community outreach project

This article explores the challenges experienced and value derived by human resource management students at the Nelson Mandela University, South Africa from participating in a community service project. The study is descriptive and qualitative in nature, providing a thematic and narrative summary of student experiences in a community service project as presented in portfolios of evidence. The study reveals that community service projects are a valuable tool for students to experience real life, practise desired graduate attributes and other competencies nurtured in the classroom, and deepen their socioeconomic awareness. For academics they provide insight into student experiences and highlights areas in which students need support, guidance, or mentoring in a service-learning project of this nature.