The overall aim of this study was to investigate the extent and the nature of Garyounis University's role in achieving the goals of social development in Libya based on the project termed "Libya 2025" by the National Office of Planning (2007). This purpose highlights a concern for the reality of Garyounis University's role in society within the Libyan context in terms of achieving social development aims in Libya including the dissemination of: health awareness; knowledge; environmental awareness; vocational awareness; and political awareness. The research also sought to identify the most important difficulties which challenge the university in carrying out this role. Data collection methods consisted of two main approaches including both quantitative and qualitative elements. Firstly, a questionnaire was designed in order to gather data that could assist in investigating the seven fields of the university role searched in this study. The researcher based the construction of this questionnaire on a number of previous studies related to this topic and 225 completed questionnaires were received out of 367 items that were distributed. Secondly, 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to collect more extensive data and to overcome any limitations of the questionnaire. Both research tools were administered to a sample of the academic staff of the University of Benghazi in order to discover their perceptions of the issue under scrutiny. The findings of the study suggest that all the staff at Garyounis University are aware of the content of the law which outlines the societal goals of the institution and they acknowledge the importance of these aspirational goals. However, respondents indicated a wide range of difficulties in fulfilling this role and it was notable that it was perceived that the least attention was paid to health awareness. It is suggested that this study can contribute to the understanding of university-community engagement in Libya in theory and in practice and a series of recommendations are made including suggestions that further investment and training is required if these important goals are to be achieved.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:546741 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Attia, Fatma Ben |
| Publisher | Liverpool John Moores University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/6093/ |
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