Stimulating local development through educational interventions

Abstract

Community Development through education is the goal of an innovative programme of extra-mural studies offered throughout the West of Ireland by University College Galway, a campus of circa 5,000 students, situated on the west coast of the country (O'Cinneide, 1987). When it was first established as Queen's College, Galway, in the middle of the 19th century, the subjects of its professorships included Agriculture, Civil Engineering and Celtic among others, indicating that those who planned a university institution for Galway had in mind that it should contribute to the economic and cultural development of its predominantly rural hinterland, no less than to the scholarship of its students (O hEocha, 1984). The University, therefore, has a long history of involvement in the development of its region and its community development programme is but one facet of its current contribution. The purpose of this article is (a) to briefly review the fundamental principles of community development; (b) to outline an educational intervention found to be effective in stimulating local community development in Ireland; (c) to illustrate the potential of this approach by reference to one local community and (d) to identify the preconditions for the success of this approach to local development.