Reimagining health sciences faculties through the lens of social impact

Abstract

Background: Universities worldwide are being called to re-examine their fundamental purpose, to decolonise curricula, enact social justice, and respond to societal issues. Health sciences faculties are challenged to align their core missions of teaching, research, and community engagement with these evolving demands.
Discussion: In South Africa, movements such as Rhodes Must Fall and the COVID-19 pandemic have once again amplified the need for universities to act not only as knowledge producers but as agents of meaningful change. Drawing on the example of Stellenbosch University (SU) and its Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), we outline a Social Impact Framework that foregrounds embedded, specific, and systemic impact. We propose that five domains: curriculum, research, leadership, partnerships, and systems, must be recalibrated so that social impact becomes the guiding principle of academic work.
Conclusion: When social impact becomes the compass guiding universities, institutions shift from being good at producing knowledge to being good for society. This transformation demands a move from outputs to outcomes, from competition to collaboration, and from prestige to purpose.