The Effectiveness of a University Professor’s Performance in Linking the Academic Role to Community Service

Abstract

This article aims to review the roles that are expected of the university professor as a fundamental pillar upon which the university is based in exercising its social functions within different sectors of society. The functions of the university professor are many, and the effectiveness of his performance is determined by achieving a balance between his traditional academic duties such as teaching and research in the scientific field, and his growing role in serving the community. In light of the societal challenges and transformations taking place in the higher education sector, and the extent to which the sector is able to enable professors to perform their duties to the fullest extent possible, and through the multiplicity of functions and tasks outlined and delegated by society and the university, university professors are experiencing a decline in the performance of

their functions at the expense of others, including the quality of university income and the multiplicity of their roles within the community to which they belong.

These tasks may face several challenges and difficulties, including those related to the university in terms of training, structures, means, capabilities, and policies, and some related to it in itself through the nature of its training, the extent of its efficiency, its awareness and belief in this role, and some related to the community, its understanding of the professor's mission and giving it the necessary status, and other challenges. Therefore, it can be said that in order for the professor to be able to combine his performance inside and outside the university and achieve effectiveness in doing so in order to advance the society and contribute to its social, cultural, economic, political and cognitive development, it is necessary to activate the partnership between the university and the community, and to develop means of support and continuous training for the university professor.