Academic Third Mission through Community Engagement: An Empirical Study in European Universities

Abstract

Community engagement is fundamental for tertiary education, as it allows universities to connect with external stakeholders, create social impact, and improve the development of strategies for public engagement. The current study aims to evaluate the level of community engagement in tertiary education, assess the level of sustainable practices, and identify areas for improvement. The research employed a survey method, using a standardized questionnaire to gather data from 44 respondents, representing 35 European universities from nine countries. The survey covered various aspects of community engagement, such as university commitment, documentation, public awareness, investments, incentives, training, and stakeholder engagement. Quantitative analysis was employed using ANOVA and AHP to analyze the data collected from 20 questions. The results revealed that universities have a clear commitment to public engagement and have well-documented policies in place. However, there were areas identified for improvement, such as increasing investments to encourage public engagement and offering more training activities to support it. Additionally, the universities were found to have a limited target group for their community engagement activities and insufficient communication of the results of impact assessments. The findings of this study will be used to improve the development of strategies and enhance public engagement in tertiary education through the Academic Third Mission.