A Reflection On How Universities Perform Against Criteria For Authentic Community Engagement

Departing from the belief that academic community engagement (ACE) initiatives should result in impactful developmental outcomes that improve the livelihoods of vulnerable populations in society, this paper offers an evaluation of how authentically a sample of universities are meeting criteria depicting such authentic engagement. The specific focus will be on what is publicly available, since university rankings and membership to scientific committees are shared as part of presenting the university’s status, the study aims to determine if the engagement aspects are shared publicly as well. The intention of the institutions to publicly reflect their true civic impact in critical developmental areas is important to showcase the importance they attach to addressing societal challenges. The more criteria are addressed, the more likely the engagement activities will contribute to the targeted changes. Results from the evaluation will be shared with recommendations on how all higher education (HE) institutions can strengthen their impact through ACE. This will provide a departure point for measuring the return on investment of activities that at times are viewed as charity instead of the rigorous form of scholarship it has become.