Defining and Delivering the University's Third Mission

Abstract

This article is an attempt to describe the outputs of project E3M European Indicators and Ranking Methodology for University Third Mission. The project is funded by the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning Program. European universities have accepted, traditionally, two main missions: teaching and research. Recently, another mission is being considered to reflect the involvement of universities with society. It is commonly designated in theUSA as outreach and engagement. While for education and research there exist several proposals for measuring these activities there are few consistent approaches to evaluate and compare third mission accomplishments.