School of Community Studies and Rural Development (SCSRD)

Historical Background of the School

The College of Community Studies and Rural Development was established in 1975 as a branch of Extra Mural Studies in Khartoum University. The intention of the branch then was to offer short and medium term courses to government officials working by then in the Southern Region. Courses offered were introduction to Library Management and other courses for Library Assistants, Office Management, Adult Literacy, and Book Keeping.

When the University of Juba was established in 1977 the branch was upgraded to the College of Adult Education and Training, and thus became one of the five founding Colleges of the University. It offered Diploma courses in Adult Education and its students were drawn from civil servants in the Southern Regional Government. In 1989 while in Khartoum, the College was renamed as Community Studies and Rural Development consisting of four departments as follows:

Department of Rural Development, Community Studies, Development Communication, and Library &Information Science

In 2007 the College was among the seven colleges that returned from Khartoum to Juba after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and.

Vision:

To develop competent human resource to manage the socio-economic development of the rural and urban communities of South Sudan

Mission:

To train students in the dissemination of knowledge and skills regarding community studies, rural development, development communication and library and information science.
to strengthen the capacity of communities to influence their environment with special reference to policy and planning.
To encourage research in areas related to rural development, social work, food and nutrition science, development communication and library and information science.

In line with its Vision, the Mission of the College is to prepare and equip its graduates with the requisite knowledge and skills to be imparted to the rural communities and to enable them participate and get involved in their own development.

General objectives of the College:-

To provide students with an appreciation of socio- economic development of the rural communities and their relationship to the environment in meeting basic needs.
To equip students with the skills needed to recognize and utilize the natural resources of the rural communities in addressing food security and increase productivity at the national and local level of the government institutions and sustain their livelihoods.
To help students to develop and deepen their competence and experience through field work activities.
To assist students in acquiring skills that are relevant to the community needs and employment opportunities available in the labor market e.g. Library and Information science, Food and Nutrition courses etc.
To help conduct consultancy work for Government, Public Corporation, NGOs, Private Sector etc through seminars, workshops, conferences, research etc in the areas of Social Planning, Social Analysis, Family Science, Food and Nutrition, Intergraded Rural Development, Development Planning, Extension Services, Social Development and in many other activities.

The specific objectives are:-

To equip learners with knowledge of the theories and principles in five specializations of the college.
To enable learners to acquire knowledge and skills in various specializations of the college that meet national and international standards.
To equip learners with the knowledge of research for development.
And to develop learners’ capacities to contribute towards the development of their various professions.

Codes:

S/No	Department	Code
1	Development Communication ( Bachelor of Science)	5142
2	Rural Development ( Bachelor of Arts)	5143
3	Community Studies (Social Work and; Food and Nutrition Science) (Bachelor of Arts)	5144
4	Library and Information Science ( Bachelor of Science)	5145

Duration of Studies of the School:

The school of Community Studies and Rural Development awards 4 and 5 year General and Honor Degrees of Arts and Science in the above mentioned departments.

Number of courses in each semester

The courses rendered in our college are general courses of the university for all first years such as Basic Mathematics, Statistics, English and Arabic languages, South Sudan Socio-political Economy, Natural Resources of South Sudan etc. and core courses of specialization in Rural Development such as Introduction to Rural Development, Introduction to Community Development, Adult Education, Rural Extension, Rural Development Planning, Population Studies; courses in Social Work , such as Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare, Management of Social Administration, Community Organization Method, Group Work Method, School Social Work, Social Problems, Social Planning etc; and course in Library and Development Communication.