Abstract
In an environment increasingly driven by the need for an evidence base and accountability, there is pressure to identify measures of university community engagement. The Australian Universities Community Engagement Alliance(AUCEA ) recognised the need for the development of national and international benchmarks for engagement activity, the inclusion of engagement as a part of institutional profile assessments by government and as part of the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) assessment regime. The AUCEA Benchmarking Pilot Project has collaboratively developed definitions, rationale and a set of goals, strategies and measures as a basis for benchmarking university community engagement. As the project enters a pilot phase where participating universities will populate the indicators using their own internal processes and a shared partner perception survey, many challenges will be faced. This paper outlines the process undertaken by the AUCEA Benchmarking Pilot Project and the outcomes so far.