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Universities have always interacted with their surrounding communities and responded to societal change, a role often referred to as the "third mission of the university."

Today, HEIs are increasingly expected to play an active role in addressing a range of social needs and problems, from the climate crisis to geopolitical tensions. These complex challenges make cooperation between disciplines, between institutions, and between institutions and enterprises or local communities even more urgent and relevant.

This longitudinal study explores how accredited HEIs in Turkey conceptualize and articulate their perspectives on "service to society" within the context of the THEQC accreditation framework. The study aims to understand how these perspectives have evolved over the years, specifically examining changes in randomly selected 20 THEQC-accredited HEI’s yearly institutional self-assessment reports (ISERs) to see if and how cooperation and coordination efforts have enhanced their realization of this specific THEQC criterion.

By examining ISERs, the study investigates how HEI’s understanding and implementation of community engagement have changed and whether these changes reflect improved interdisciplinary cooperation and integration with local communities and enterprises. By doing so, the paper aims to answer the question of what role quality assurance plays in fostering these different types of cooperation, including interdisciplinarity, combining the different university missions for quality education and research, and innovative initiatives such as service learning.

The findings highlight the importance of integrated and cooperative strategies in enhancing the overall quality of higher education. The paper concludes by emphasizing the transformative potential of quality assurance mechanisms in fostering a culture of collaboration and community engagement within universities.

This paper was presented at EQAF and reflects the views of the named authors only.

ISSN: 1375-3797

Enhancing Quality Assurance through Interdisciplinary Cooperation and Community Engagement: A Longitudinal Study of Turkish Universities' Service to Society

Meryem Ayşegül Kozak Çakır
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