University Third Mission as an Organisational and Political Field: Evidence from Three Case Studies in Italy

This chapter is an empirical analysis of University Third Mission (UTM), using a combination of organisational field concept drawn from new institutionalism, along with Bourdieu’s social field. Its aim is to understand UTM not just as a set of activities, but as an emerging area of institutional life structured by organisations, institutions, actors, relationships, activities, agendas as well as struggles. Moving from a multiple case study on three public universities located in Northern Italy, our analysis focuses on different degrees of structuration and institutionalisation of UTM. Further, for each case it considers the tensions arising among actors in the field (internal/external dimension) and inside the university setting (internal dimension).