Universities contribute their expertise and talents to the community where it is situated at both educational community and the wider community levels, since the community is the proprietor of higher edcation institutions and also the end user of the product of these institutions (Obanya,2002). In addtion, the institutions prepare students to think comprehensively and systematically about social issues in their surroundings through service learning. The idea behind service learning credit includes not only an effort to reduce social ills but also to provide students with connection to the larger communty and encourage them to develop sense of personal and social resposibilities. The wider society also provides real life varied work experiences to institutions and students as feedback. To this end, the study identified the approaches two universities in Port Harcourt in Rivers State, a state in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria use to empowerment for sustainability.
Port Harcourt is in Rivers State, one of the states in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The poor state of human deevlopment accompanied by oil spillage and gas flaring which has created environmental and ecological degradation has serious consequences for all the people living there. The real success to be achieved in the development of the region will have to be a change of behaviour and approaches among stakeholders of which universities are are among. Rivers state has two universities, and they have social responsibilities towards their host communities as catalysts for sustainable development. The wider society should in return provide varied work eperiences for universities to use as bases for curriculum reforms towards entrepreneurship education for jobs and wealth creation as synergies between formal and non-formal education system.
The study identified the strategies used by the two universities in Rivers State at the institutional, students' and local levels to empower members of their host communities. This is necessary because the areas are saddled with social and environmental problems which have resulted in youth restlessness, unemployment and conflicts in all ramifications. Universities through social resposibilty programs use these strategies to improve the situations. The scope of this assistance and practice is what is being presented in this paper is what this studied tried to establish.
Institutions are supporting some communities financially but with limited emphasis on societal development challenges. Students are providing services through service learning activities but are limited to immediate university environments. Communities are providing limited varied work experiences which universities can harness by improving the knownledge and skills possessed by the people to make life worthwhile for them, and at the same time use these platforms as feed back mechanisms for curriculum reforms and research function.
Social responsibility problems exist whenever institutions' actions do not meet stakeholders' expectations. The universities are not emphasizing societal development challenges. They do not engage with indigenous knowedge of the ordinary citizens. There is no solid university-community synergy that can bring about sustainable development. The service learning activities engaged by students do not go beyond the campuses. The universities do not engage in activities that can enhance the well-being towards human resource development.
University Social Responsibility should adopt the proactive strategy in which institutions anticipate responsibilty for problems before they occur and do more than the society expects, especially in the areas of improving the knowledge and skills of operators of the informal economy who are largely made up of persons with little or no education but are skillful and provide basic needs. Service learning activities should be comprehensive to embrace the wider societies as a way of taking education out into the communities. This will encourage students to be less self - centered and more stongly motivated to help others.
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