Service learning in higher education: A systematic literature review

Why this paper matters

Maps higher-education service-learning research, outcomes, and implementation themes.

Evidence reviewed

Design: Systematic review of 133 studies
Full-text status: Indexed PDF/full text reviewed

Principal finding

The field reports academic, personal, social, and civic outcomes across diverse settings.

EntrSL interpretation

This paper informs the design or evaluation of service-learning and experiential-learning work. Its findings should be interpreted within the reported design and context, not treated as universal or necessarily causal evidence.

Limitations and boundary conditions

Quality appraisal is less explicit than the breadth of mapping; findings are not one pooled effect.

Scoring rationale

• EntrSL relevance: 5/5. Directness to service-learning, experiential learning, higher education, entrepreneurship, reflection, reciprocity, or institutional practice.
• Evidence quality: 4/5. Based on design transparency, sample or review breadth, analytical fit, and inferential limits.
• Journal standing is separate. OpenAlex two-year mean citedness and h-index are descriptive source metrics and do not increase this paper’s evidence score.

Citation

Maimoona Salam; Dayang Nurfatimah Awang Iskandar; Dayang Hanani Abang Ibrahim; Muhammad Shoaib Farooq (2019). “Service learning in higher education: A systematic literature review.” Asia Pacific Education Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-019-09580-6