Community engagement in higher education is a shift beyond the traditional roles of instruction and research. This paper presents a transnational view of community engagement developed from two case studies of universities in the Philippines and Australia. The study, revealed variations in the way community engagement is understood and implemented by universities across different countries. These variations are related to economic, social-cultural, political and organizational factors. The role of university leadership was found to have a critical role in embedding community engagement in the organizational identity and image. (Contains 1 table.)