Universities’ “Third Mission” between innovation, tradition and social engagement

Abstract

Evaluating the impact that university institutions and academic research have on societies and areas is a topic of public debate, inside and outside Italian borders. Globalization, and the increase in the competitiveness on international markets have unbalanced educational and research systems on the production and transmission of “useful knowledge”. Nevertheless, the rootedness of universities in their contexts historically represents a factor of community development the more territories become “cultural agents”, actively interacting with the instances emerging from university research. This paper aims to highlight how the adoption of the Anglo-Saxon model of the engaged campus across Europe has determined, also in Italy, the progressive repositioning of university “Third Mission” initiatives from the margins to the mainstream, integrating into the traditional research and teaching functions of universities also public service and community development, through constant dialogue and interaction between culture and society, tradition and innovation, local welfare and European research policies.