The Third Sector in the Universities’ Third Mission
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Date
2017
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Peter Lang GmbH
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Abstract
Interactions between today’s university and its environment, as part of the university’s social responsibility, have been subject to many scientific papers. Their authors typically focus on interdependencies between universities, the state and the market. What is lacking are publications related to the interactions between universities and third sector organisations, and more broadly – the civil society that may play an important role in shaping the relations between a university and its social environment. The aim of this work is to fill this research gap, as ignoring the importance of these relations results in a society that treats the university instrumentally. The text consists of four parts. The first one presents background on the formation of relationships between academic institutions and their social environment as well as scenarios for advancement of the institutions, developed by international organisations. In the second part, the authors develop and support the thesis that to include interactions with the non-governmental sector into the third mission, in its traditional meaning, will have a positive impact on the development of social capital, the importance of which is presently underestimated. In the paper, there are arguments in favour of extending the third mission of the university to include the social environment, i.e. organisations of different types, active within the 3rd sector. The third part of the article consists of analyses discussing the justifiability of such an approach to the role played by universities, as illustrated with examples of good practice from Poland. The examples not only show the mechanism of cooperation with a university, but also the social context of its activity in a given country. The authors believe that it is context that decides what forms, if any, of pro-social activity shall shape the academia and co-exist with it. In the summary, the authors provide some recommendations that, once adopted, may contribute to enriching the universities’ third mission, which are the improvement and strengthening of the relationship between the university and the third sector.
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Citation
Kola A., Leja K. (2017), The Third Sector in the Universities’ Third Mission in: Ł.Sułkowski (ed.), Management and Culture of the University (New Horizons in Management Sciences edited by Ł. Sułkowski, vol. 6), Peter Lang GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, pp. 99-125.