ABSTRACT The quality assurance of community engagement was flagged as a major problem during the last cycle of audits of South African Higher Education Institutions (SAHEIs) by the Higher Education Quality Committee. Through the implementation of critical literature review methodology and comparing similarities and differences among SAHEIs in their reporting of their attempts at benchmarking, this article will present concrete proposals for a pathway to effective benchmarking of community engagement at SAHEIs. SAHEIs have looked at conceptual models to enable high-quality community engagement, but effective measuring tools have eluded their efforts. Through evaluating the critiques and recommendations of the Higher Education Quality Committee at all SAHEIs regarding community engagement as well as the responses thereto, this article will discuss the obstacles to developing quality assurance of community engagement and the prospects for overcoming them. Insights into key elements required in the benchmarking of community engagement will be drawn from the history of community engagement at SAHEIs from apartheid to democracy.

中文翻译：

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南非高等教育机构社区参与的质量保证：问题与前景

摘要 在南非高等教育机构 (SAHEIs) 的最后一个审计周期中，高等教育质量委员会将社区参与的质量保证标记为一个主要问题。通过实施批判性文献审查方法并比较 SAHEIs 在其基准测试报告中的异同，本文将提出具体建议，以对 SAHEIs 的社区参与进行有效基准测试。SAHEIs 已经研究了概念模型，以实现高质量的社区参与，但有效的衡量工具却没有得到他们的努力。通过评估所有 SAHEIs 高等教育质量委员会对社区参与及其回应的批评和建议，本文将讨论发展社区参与质量保证的障碍以及克服这些障碍的前景。将从种族隔离到民主的 SAHEIs 社区参与的历史中深入了解社区参与基准化所需的关键要素。