Building Partnerships for Adult Education: University-Community Collaboration in South East Nigeria

This study examines university-community partnership models for adult education delivery in South East Nigeria, assessing their effectiveness and the factors that enable or constrain successful collaboration. Universities with adult education departments are natural partners for community adult education initiatives, offering expertise, research capacity, and trained facilitators. Several universities in South East Nigeria have established community outreach literacy and skills programmes, but the systematic effectiveness of these partnerships has not been studied. This study uses a multiple case study design, examining university-community adult education partnerships involving the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, and Imo State University in collaboration with communities in Enugu, Anambra, and Imo States. Data sources include programme records, interviews with 35 university staff, community members, and local government education authorities, and learner outcome assessments. Thematic analysis and cross-case comparison are applied. Findings reveal that successful partnerships are characterised by long-term relational commitments, shared decision-making, community needs assessment prior to programme design, and integration of student fieldwork into programme delivery. Challenges include discontinuity of university engagement during academic breaks, community expectation management, and limited university administrative support for outreach activities. The study concludes that university-community partnerships offer high-quality adult education delivery when sustained by institutional commitment on both sides. It recommends that universities formalise community adult education as a credit-bearing service learning component to ensure consistent student and staff engagement.

Keywords: university-community partnership, adult education, South East Nigeria, service learning, outreach.