RMPP #2: Historical perspective and benchmarks. Research systems.

4 Fevereiro 2026, 18:00 • Ana Moutinho

Dear All,

Many thanks for attending online yesterday.

Please find attached the presentation.

We took an historical perspective and analysed some relevant benchmarks.

For those of you who are into history and/or reflective about the way this are/were, I leave down further suggestions that I quite like.

I am a big fan of Tony Judt, a British/American historian, dead in 2010. One of his major works is Postwar. Also, he wrote a piece for younger people on the way we live(d) that I feel still applies as food for thought, regardless of everything that happened in the last 15 years: Tony Judt, Ill fares the land, NYRB 2010 (pdf attached) + critique by Chris Patten (The Guardian, 2010).

The Education of an Idealist, by Samantha Power (SP is a former US Ambassador to the UN and former Administrator of USAID; fun fact: the main character in Netflix Series “The Diplomat” is modelled after her).

 

Next week, it will be all about universities and research performing organisations, with a spice of funders as well.

For the official Voice of Europe’s Universities, there is a lot of info at EUA website – European University Association: https://eua.eu/

As introductory reading, I suggest:

Lorenzo Compagnucci, Francesca Spigarelli (2020). The Third Mission of the university: A systematic literature review on potentials and constraints, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Volume 161. [pdf attached]

Again, long. Suit yourself to AI digestions or jump into the Conclusions:

Despite the fact that there is widespread recognition, in universities, governments, industries and in society, that the TM is becoming increasingly important, the concept of TM remains nebulous and ambiguous. Indeed, it has been defined in many diverse ways and encompasses a wide array of models, dimensions, functions and activities, all of which fuel wideranging debates between scholars and policy makers. In other words, the TM is currently both the most crucial mission and that which most requires innovation in the organization of universities. This fragmentation can be misleading when it is addressed with a narrow perspective, one which ignores some fundamental aspects, such as: the wide array of rationales driving the shift towards the TM; the synergies between the various functions of the TM; the incorporation of the TM within the traditional university missions of teaching and research; and the perceived legitimacy and contribution of all three missions by both university staff and external stakeholders.

(…)

The growing body of research and increased attention paid to the TM are, no doubt, reflected in the increasing pressure governments are putting on universities to add a TM, labelled as a “contribution to society”, into their programme Syllabi, even while public funding for education is steadily being cut. At the same time, academia is facing demands for transparency, efficiency and accountability regarding the socio-economic impact of its activities. Furthermore, universities are now being required to demonstrate their legitimacy to external stakeholders, including industry and society at large. This means that the university and the production and dissemination of knowledge are currently perceived as being at a crossroad.

Stay safe,

Ana

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RMPP#1

28 Janeiro 2026, 18:00 • Ana Moutinho

Welcome.

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