“Catch Them Young”: Role of Educational Institutions in Community Development- A Descriptive Study on the Perception of College Students in Chennai

Abstract

Community Development is a process of collective action taken by the members of a community to
generate solutions for common problems. The aspects of community well being namely Economic, Social,
Environmental and Cultural well being evolves from this type of collective action taken at multiple
societal levels. (Weaver, 1971) defines community development as a process of “A public-group approach
dedicated to achieving the goals of the total body politic.” Therefore, it is evident that a community can
be developed through the effective participation of citizens. It is universally acceptable that community
service is a vehicle for safeguarding the environment that is initiated from the participants of the
community. In order to imbibe the community consciousness among the citizens, every country should
“Catch them Young”. The purpose of the paper is to integrate Participative Model (Active Citizenship,
Citizen Networks and Co-production) with Self-service Model (Social Governance, Societal Discipline
and Accountability).
National and international reviews show that the perception about the community and realisation has to
be ingrained at the grass root level; this can be achieved through the participation of academic
institutions. This paper is an attempt to highlight
 the initiatives taken by educational institutions to imbibe social consciousness
 the perceptions of students about their role in community development, and
 to identify the effective Private Public Partnership areas for community building
Factor analysis has been applied to identify the role of educational institutions and individual citizen’s(
Students) in building community consciousness. Linear Regression had been applied in the study to
measure the influence of Educational Institutions on the role of Students in building the community. A
weighted average score is awarded by the students for the potential areas of public private partnership
for community development is highlighted. The results of the study provide an impact created by the
institution over the students. The Study also, consolidates some of the successful community bonding and
building activities carried out Academic Institutions.