Measuring universities’ engagement: a revision of the European research projects and the actual use of the so-called ‘third mission’ indicators

Eva María de la Torre, Fernando Casani and Carmen Pérez Esparrells

Revista de Estudios Regionales, 2021, vol. 1, 97-128

Abstract: Resumen:En la actualidad se considera que la tercera misión o el compromiso socio-económico de las universidades y su interacción con sus respectivos territorios es una de sus misiones fundamentales. Sin embargo, dicha tercera misión continúa siendo un concepto ambiguo, no existiendo consenso sobre su definición y sistema de indicadores. Ello reduce la visibilidad de las contribuciones socio-económicas de las universidades en sus territorios. Este estudio revisa la amplia variedad de los indicadores teóricos propuestos en Europa, así como su restringido uso empírico. Nuestra revisión muestra que estos indicadores son muy heterogéneos, caracterizando principalmente la transferencia e innovación tecnológica.Abstract:Nowadays, the interaction between universities and their territories (engagement or third mission) is considered a core mission of universities whatever the country and the policymaker. Still, this third mission is an ambiguous notion and there is no consensus in the scientific community about its definition and system of indicators, hindering the visibility of universities’ socioeconomic contributions to their territories. This paper revises the wide variety of indicators proposed theoretically in Europe as well as the actual restricted use in empirical studies. Our revision shows that both theoretical and used indicators are strongly heterogeneous and biased towards technology transfer and innovation.

Keywords: Indicadores de Tercera Misión; Compromiso Socio-Económico; Estrategia Universitaria; Observatorio de Las Universidades Europeas; Jurisprudence.; E3m.; Third Mission Indicators; University Engagement; University Strategy; Observatory of European Universities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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