The Triple Mission of the Modern University: Component Interplay and Performance Analysis from Italy

We explore the interplay between the three missions of the modern university (teaching, research, and ‘third mission’: education, scientific productivity, and socio-economic interaction with non-academic environments), with a focus on the Italian public university. We execute a path analysis compliant with the isomorphic ‘one-size-fits-all’ university management framework, revisited under a stakeholder approach in light of students’ needs and expectations. We investigate the impact of the university’s knowledge-based missions on student outcome: student satisfaction and early job placement (data from nearly 400,000 respondents per year from 2011–2014) epitomizing both educational effectiveness/attractiveness and competitiveness. Although performances do not appear to all be correlated with each other, there is a positive relationship between research and third mission quality, and finally between the socio-economic mission and student satisfaction. This kind of mission-related evaluation can shape the institutional decisions (government policy and funding) and influence management priorities or behavior by revealing the way the quality of academic productivity and knowledge transfer to communities can create value from the point of view of the core stakeholder (university students). Our findings across missions offer a new perspective, while the innovative structural method helps to reconcile the three institutional goals in one big picture.