University–community engagement in South Africa: dilemmas in benchmarking

Abstract

The increasing value of community engagement activities in universities worldwide is yielding a rising emphasis on benchmarking university–community engagement. However, the emergence of effective benchmarks is still at an incipient stage. This article aims to provide some practical directions for developing a systematic approach to benchmarking university–community engagement within the South African milieu. The observation is made that comparative university experiences could provide useful insights into the challenges of evaluating university–community engagement in South Africa, and proposes what the responsive modalities could be. Extrapolating from such experiences and analysing the measurement tools in literature, this article examines the conceptual quandaries involved and proffers a typology of approaches to university–community engagement to highlight aspects that South African universities might want to address in benchmarking community engagement activities. A critique of the scenarios presented and the lessons learned provides the basis for the key questions South African universities may need to ask when determining appropriate benchmarking tools.