Organizing for the Third Mission: Structural conditions for outreach and relevance

The authors investigate how Third Mission activities at universities, such as the outreach and technology transfer functions, are anchored in organizational structures and practices, and discuss the implications of this relationship for the success of the activities. They draw on case studies of two Swedish university colleges to illustrate the diversity of mechanisms used to achieve Third Mission functions. It is concluded that choices about how to organize Third Mission activities may be classified with reference to at least three dimensions: (a) decentralization versus centralization of the outreach function; (b) a strong versus weak research connection in outreach; and (c) demand-side versus supply-side strategies for outreach. These dimensions are analysed from the perspective of their relative strengths and weaknesses for the organization by universities of Third Mission activities