Student Engagement and Social Change: Collective Leadership Development in South African Higher Education

Student affairs and student engagement are becoming important mechanisms for social change within South African tertiary education. We explored the relationship between student involvement in cocurricular activities and learning outcomes related to collective leadership for social change. Data were collected via a survey of 1,309 students that included demographics, cocurricular involvement, and self-reported learning outcomes. Culturally relevant frameworks, Sartorius and Sartoriuss (2013) theory of historical legacies of apartheid, and previous work on student engagement in South Africa framed the exploratory model. Regression analysis revealed a noncredit leadership course, sense of belonging and student involvement as significant predictors of social change.