Utilising university community engagement as a critical tool for global citizenship

Global citizenship education (GCE) has emerged as a powerful force in global and national discourses, with scholars and dominant international organisations stressing it to be the overarching educational framework. Although numerous approaches have been adopted to promote it, most of the strategies focus on transnational activities. There is less focus on national engagements. Utilising a qualitative study and a decolonial framework, this paper draws upon data in the Ghanaian context to discuss the potentiality of utilising the Third Trimester Field Programme of the University for Development Studies to develop the global citizen. The paper concludes that the programme provides heightened opportunities for GCE. To enhance this process, efforts should be made to avoid perceiving the programme as a ‘civilising’ mission or of perpetuating colonial legacies. Whilst participants develop critical values, they should also be encouraged to think critically about issues of social justice in and beyond the communities they visit. © 2021 British Association for International and Comparative Education.