Seminar
Rethinking universities' mission: multiple lines of inquiry

Michele Rostan (University of Pavia)

18 January 2016
Room A, h. 13.00-14.30
Graduate School in Social and Political Sciences
via Pace 10 - Milan

Following the growing and diversified demand of useful knowledge coming from both society and the economy, a set of other activities has been increasingly organised and carried out within universities alongside the traditional ones dedicated to teaching and training, and to research.
Depending on the context, this set of activities has been named 'Third stream' or 'Outreach' in the Anglo-Saxon countries, and 'Third mission', in large part of the European countries. Universities' third mission may include a vast and varied range of activities focusing on human resources, intellectual property, spin offs, contracts with industry and/or public bodies, and the participation in policy making. Although the list of activities may vary, university third mission is generally understood as 'relational', connecting universities with different partners, public bodies, the private sector and civil society both in the economic sphere and in the broader societal extra-economic sphere, and implying the generation, transmission, application, and diffusion of knowledge to the benefit of the economy and society at several scales.
In Italy, the public awareness of the importance of universities' third mission has grown over time. In 2002, a Network for the valorisation of university research was established. Named NETVAL, it provides each year a report gathering data and information on universities' technology transfer offices and spin offs. Within the research assessment exercise 2004-2010, the National agency for the evaluation of the university and research system, introduced eight indicators that were used to assess third mission activities of three types of institutions, including universities. More recently, the Agency published a Handbook for the evaluation of universities' third mission, which includes a wider set of activities and indicators.
Currently, two trends may be acknowledged in the study of universities' third mission. The first brings to the increasing consideration of continuing education and social engagement alongside technology transfer & innovation within the notion of university third mission. The second refers to a greater attention addressed to individual engagement in third mission activities, also referred to as 'academic engagement', and to the role played by specific organisations or organisational units in the relationship between university and the economy.
In this seminar, I would like to provide some examples of new lines of inquiry on the Italian case, which are pursued in on-going research projects.

Short reading list

Balduzzi, G. & Rostan, M. (2016). Organizing the 'productive transformation of knowledge'. Linking university and industry in traditional manufacturing areas. Tertiary Education and Management, 22, 1.

Gulbrandsen M., & Slipersaeter S. (2007). The third mission and the entrepreneurial university model. In Bonaccorsi, A. & Daraio, C., Universities and Strategic Knowledge Creation. Specialization and Performance in Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 112-143.

Laredo, P. (2007). Revisiting the third mission of universities: toward a renewed categorization of university activities? Higher education policy, 20, 441-456.

Perkmann, M. et al (2013). Academic engagement and commercialisation: A review of the literature on university–industry relations. Research Policy, 42, 423–442.

Thune, T. & Gulbrandsen, M. (2011). Institutionalization of university–industry interaction: an empirical study of the impact of formal structures on collaboration patterns. Science and Public Policy, 38(2), 99–107.

This seminar is part of the ResFron ESLS Cycle of seminars - 2016 Edition