Assessing University-Society Engagements: Towards a Methodological Framework

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dc.contributor.authorBekele,Teklu Abate
dc.contributor.authorOfoyuru,Denis Thaddeus
dc.contributor.authorWoldegiorgis,Emnet Tadesse
dc.date.accessioned2025-08-06T07:42:35Z
dc.date.available2025-08-06T07:42:35Z
dc.date.issued2023-10-17
dc.description.abstractAbstract Higher education institutions pursue three distinct yet interrelated missions of education, knowledge production, and community engagement. Until the last dec ades of the twentieth century, the third mission, also known as community engage ment, has received little attention. Although the third mission generally aims to contribute to the socio-cultural and economic transformations of society, its dis tinct characteristics are still under-theorized. None of the existing methodological and conceptual frameworks provides a holistic analysis of significant engagement indicators that transcend specific application contexts. Collecting data on university engagement with society and making meaningful interpretations is thus a challenge to researchers and practitioners. To contribute to filling this gap, this modified Del phi study proposes a comprehensive methodological framework of university-soci ety engagements in Africa. The core thesis is that engagement is ubiquitous- univer sity missions and support systems embody it. The framework thus constitutes eight engagement domains aligned with university core functions (teaching, knowledge production, and societal service) and support systems (governance, digitalization, internationalization, partnerships, and sustainability), with 52 items, rating scales, and descriptors. The framework contributes to conceptual and methodological clar ity, informs data collection, and interpretations of the different modalities of univer sity engagements. The alignment of engagement domains to university activities and the simplified articulations of the indicators ensure straightforward interpretations and applications of the framework by practitioners and researchers. It is also signifi cant as it comes at a time when universities are expected to contribute more directly and significantly to the realizations of the UN 2030 SDGs and the African Union 2063 centennial development ambitions
dc.description.sponsorshipU.S. Department of State, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Office of Assistance Coordination through the Tomorrow’s Leaders Graduate (TLG) Program administered at the American University in Cairo. The University of Johannesburg covered expenses linked to professional proofreading of the manuscript
dc.identifier.citationBekele, T. A., Ofoyuru, D. T., & Woldegiorgis, E. T. (2024)
dc.identifier.issn10.1007/s10755-023-09678-1
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14270/586
dc.language.isoen
dc.publishernnovative Higher Education
dc.subjectCommunity engagement · Societal service · University mission · The third mission · University-society engagement
dc.titleAssessing University-Society Engagements: Towards a Methodological Framework
dc.typeArticle

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