10th U6+ Consortium of African Universities International Conference

Higher education institutions play a critical role in developing the knowledge, competencies, and values required for graduates to thrive in an increasingly interconnected and digitally driven world. This paper examines an Enhanced Service-Learning (E-SL) initiative implemented by the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) that promotes human capital development through community-engaged, digitally mediated learning. The initiative brought together senior students from Consumer Science: Food and Nutrition, Environmental Health, and Environmental Management to work collaboratively with migrant and local informal food vendors in Cape Town's central business district. Implemented as part of the Erasmus+-funded Co-Producing Knowledge on Sustainable Growth through Service-Learning Pedagogy between African and European HEIs (COPAFEU) project, the initiative formed part of a broader transnational partnership involving African and European universities committed to collaborative learning, knowledge exchange, and capacity development. The project sought to strengthen students' practical, digital, intercultural, and entrepreneurial competencies while simultaneously supporting community participants through knowledge-sharing activities focused on food safety, marketing, budgeting, and small-business sustainability. Through a collaborative co-creation process, students, vendors and learning facilitators developed Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Massive Open Online Courses (MMOCS), or material that was used to develop these resources using accessible technologies such as smartphones. These activities transformed local experiences into globally accessible educational resources and promoted inclusive knowledge production. Drawing on qualitative data from student reflective journals, interviews with food vendors, student reflections, and multimedia artefacts, the study explores the educational and developmental outcomes of the initiative. Findings suggest that participation enhanced students' digital literacy, intercultural competence, problem-solving abilities, and global citizenship, ability to apply skills learnt in class, while vendors benefited from practical skills development and increased access to knowledge resources. The paper argues that digitally enabled service-learning offers a powerful framework for human capital development by integrating academic learning with real-world engagement, fostering reciprocal learning relationships, and preparing graduates and communities to participate meaningfully in a globally connected knowledge economy.