Review Paper Title:

THIRD MISSION OF UNIVERSITIES: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND EXTENSION EDUCATION

Authors: Pradeep Dwivedi Assistant professor Department of agriculture extension, BRDPG College, Deoria

A.K. Rai Principal BRDPG College, Deoria, UP, Pin code- 274001, India

Archana Kumari Programme coordinator TREx: Teaching, Research & Extension Watch T- 1249-50, mangolpuri New Delhi

Address for correspondence:

Pradeep Dwivedi Assistant professor Department of agriculture extension, BRDPG College, Deoria, UP, India Pin code- 274001 Mob. No. 9450860523 Email- pradeepsyird@yahoo.com

THIRD MISSION OF UNIVERSITIES: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND EXTENSION EDUCATION Universities have Three Missions: Teaching, Research, and what we have called Extension or Communities Engagement. As universities worldwide are now becoming recognized as key generators of cultural and social - as well as economic - capital, their community engagement and outreach activities are coming under increasing scrutiny. Communities refers to various communities involved: not only business, but all communities - e.g. artistic, farming, religious, educational, sporting, charitable, indigenous, professional associations, local councils, families etc. The untapped energy of universities and other institutions of higher education to address regional issues seem endless. Policy-makers and analysts alike have begun to pay more attention to the ways in which university-based capabilities and activities can contribute to social and economic development. (Gassler et al. 2001). Since their inception, although universities have contributed directly and indirectly too much of the decision-making in wider society, this function has not been core to their mission in the same way as the first two streams of university activity research and teaching. This Third Mission refers to all activities concerned with the generation, use, application and exploitation of knowledge and other university capabilities outside academic environments (Molas, et al. 2002). These activities add to the traditional first and second university missions: teaching and academic research. Third Mission activities have received substantial policy and academic attention during last decade. First model developed by OECD about politiqcies scientiefeques et techneques (see the piganiol report in 1963) was an effort to further strengthening the concept of disseminating the fundamental research results. This give rise to numerous structures such as extension services for agriculture in the US as early as the late 19th centuries, science and technology information services to firms and research industry collaboration etc. (Laredo, 2007) The common term for such services was applied research. UNESCO, as early as 1976, observed that higher education should be more widely involved with society. Its institutions should cease to be passive repositories of knowledge, and should take an active role in the problems of development. While this was apparent even four decades ago, little has been achieved in real terms towards this goal. Dearing Report1, which is the latest report on higher education in England, gives a clear emphasis on the social vision of the university. Universities all over the world tend to make themselves exclusive institutions housed in the proverbial ivory tower. This has been, mostly, the case with Indian universities also, in spite of the efforts of the University Grants Commission (UGC) to persuade them to accept extension as a third dimension of higher education, equal in importance to

teaching and research. In India, UGC has taken some bold policy decisions in favor of this current issue. In their policy statement, UGC has recognized extension as the third dimension of institutions of higher education, in addition to the earlier two-fold dimension of teaching and research. Another document of the UGC goes on to state explicitly that: The acceptance of extension as the third dimension equal in importance to teaching and research was in the context of a growing realization that universities and colleges having institutional resources - knowledge, manpower and physical resources have an obligation to develop sensitivities to involve in the development of the community with particular reference to overall and diverse learning needs of all segments of people in the community.2 UGC further states that: The third dimension aims to promote a meaningful and sustained rapport between the universities and the community. It identifies two aspects of this aim in very clear terms: It aims, firstly, to extend knowledge and other institutional resources to the community and vice-versa, and secondly, to gain insights into contact between knowledge resources and socio-cultural realities with a view to reflecting these in the entire curricular system of higher education including teaching and research.3 Agriculture extension by State Agriculture Universities (SAUs) through KVKs etc. has been interpreted as a narrowed third mission approach and a more comprehensive vision suggested by working sub-group on Agriculture Education (2008). Report observed that Agriculture Universities are concentrating mainly on formal education while there is need for non-formal education especially in respect of knowledge and technological empowerment of vast section of work force in rural areas. This will expand the opportunities for off-farm employment and decrease dependence of large segment of population on agriculture resources for livelihood. Rural youth unable to pursue higher education, school and college drop outs, women in agriculture who have no facilities of higher education can easily be provided skills and oriented towards agriculture vocation as per their traditional occupations. This will lead to total transformation in rural areas. Saiyidain (1985) while linking universities with surrounding community observed that one of the most important functions of the university is to organize extension services, so that students in the various departments are closely involved in activities organized for the good of the community. They may adopt a neighboring village to help in literacy programs and other social activities based on the local needs. Ninth plan first time covered third mission in India by stating its vision as University and Social Change with following directions:

-Encouragement to universities to develop a greater emphasis on non-degree programs in order to meet the expectations arising out of changes that are taking place in the society; -These activities to be made the responsibility of every department; while the departments of adult and continuing education would be the focal point for social change function; -Generation of revenue through increased university-industry Tenth plan also continued focus on third mission by incorporating business and community extension functions including lifelong learning, whereas eleventh plan has been vocal on quantative expansion of higher education but silent on the issue of community engagement. Similarly, Approach paper on twelfth plan is eyeing on quality higher education without addressing the role of third mission in quality improvement.4 National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is also experimenting with issue by popularizing best extension practices among higher education providers and by developing assessment indicators to measure third mission activities implemented by colleges and universities in India. NAAC observe that Community Engagement by the higher education institutions (HEIs), in the Indian context, unlike in the case of advanced countries, is still, at best, modest in scale, and often not a formal component of academic training of student. In the advanced countries, institutional orientation to community engagement is thorough, while with us, though the topic is frequently discussed among colleagues in the field, in practice, it is still at an evolving stage. There is, however, a need to give a concrete shape to institution-community partnerships, since both higher education and community play important roles in modernizing a countrys human resource, and their interests have a natural affinity. Community involvement in the realm of higher education institutions is not new. Guided by mutual benefit, there always existed some form of exchange of knowledge, resources and services between the HEIs and the proximate communities. However, institutionalized practice of such exchange, termed community engagement, has been gaining in significance in the Indian situation only recently.5 There is a perceived need for new indicators to support the management of third mission activities, guide policy action and support research on their nature and impact. SPRU report (2002) observed that measuring of the third stream activities needs a holistic approach that examines the main channels that bind universities to the rest of society.

The first instance in which the issue of indicators for third mission activities emerged was in relation to the implementation of the National R&D Plan in 1998. This was the first time in which a national programme to support R&D across a broad variety of fields and disciplines was implemented in Spain (Munoz, 2001). The latter initiative coincided with the launch in 2002 of ProTon Europe,6 a network of Technology Transfer Offices funded by the European Commission within the Gate2Growth7 programme. The development of Third-Mission indicators has been the subject of a number of European Projects such as E3M8 and SIAMPI.9 Narrow and broad interpretations of third mission can be observed across the world. Narrow vision encompasses only the activities helpful in generating the revenue for the universities in exchange of selling research products to industries i.e. transfer of technology to industries, industry sponsored research projects and establishments of spin offs. Whereas a broader vision truly represent the spirit of third mission, it includes concept such as creating knowledge/learning society, continue education, lifelong learning, extension and outreach programmes, community engagement and service, peoples participation and grass root approach, rural management and social entrepreneurship, regional engagement, translational work, building social capital etc. Top legitimate authorities who conduct world university ranking survey now also measures third mission of universities by adopting comprehensive range of indicators and this trend has pushed some countries policy makers to struggle with balancing narrowly focused third mission with broader societal movement. Universities third mission activities has been designed and undertaken by various disciplines such as adult education, continue education, distance education, education technology, communication and media studies, translational science etc. But the expertisation to deal with diversities of third mission indicators is not easy task for any single discipline; rather it needs a multidisciplinary approach consisting of applied knowledge, skills and experiences from behavioral sciences as well as technological sciences Interestingly, most of the third mission indicators developed by leading study groups worldwide are already being used in parts by researchers in extension education discipline under various projects but these researches have been confined to rural communities. Universities, if not narrowing down the meaning of their third mission limited to the industrial community, can avail the professional competencies of extension education discipline to implement its third mission or community engagement and services with equal effectiveness as other two missions viz. teaching and research. Extension education discipline, the only discipline across the globe, has official monopoly to generate and document the social technologies which influence the human behavior in such a manner that bring the desirable changes in peoples attitude,

knowledge and skills toward applied scientific and technological contents and an innovation is diffused or research results are communicated among ultimate users resulting in societal growth. In fact, extension education functions as an outreach component of the curriculum to which it is applied (Bijili and Tiwari, 2011). Agriculture and Home science are the curriculum effectively outreaching their knowledge resources using agriculture extension and home science extension respectively since mid 1960s.Whereas, legal extension, health extension , university extension , financial extension services etc. are passing through various stages of reforms under various policy recommendations. Even arguments were also made to formulate a comprehensive law by the state to ensure the delivery of diversified extension services to the wider community. Dwivedi (2008) suggested multi-ministerial approach by establishing an apex body to coordinate wide range of extension services and formulating Right to Extension Education (Act) to ensure efficient community engagement at different level of knowledge sharing by different stakeholders. Universities in India need to streamline their third mission activities as per their resources. Keeping in view university infrastructure, available expertisation, regional and local needs our universities must bridge the gap between academics and society by devising a result oriented mechanism under the supervision of extension education professionals. On the other hand it is the time to reform the objectives and roles of extension education discipline by streamlining the functioning of concerned professional societies and national expert groups if we want to grab vast opportunity seeking our competencies around the world of higher education. Periods of economic stagnation or recession provide excellent opportunities for extension programme-planners in higher education institutes to apply their scholarship in disseminating other disciplines research and knowledge in ways that generate lasting benefits to society.

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Agriculture Education working sub group (2008), Report submitted, 11th Plan; Planning Commission, Govt. of India, New Delhi Bijili, Heena K. and Tiwari, Ratna (2011) Extension Education and its relevance in Higher Education: Emerging Trends, University News, vol. 46 (27), AIU, New Delhi, pp 19- 24 Dwivedi, Pradeep (2008) Formulating Right To Extension Education Needs Multi-ministerial Approach, paper presented at 32nd Indian Social Science Congress, New Delhi, Dec 18- 22, 2008 European Commission ( 2003) Thematic Trend Report: Industry-Science Relations, Brussels: European Commission Jord, i Molas-Gallart, Elena Castro-Martnez (2006) Ambiguity and conflict in the development of Third Mission indicators, Paper presented to the 9 Technology Indicators Conference, Louvain, 7-9 September, 2006 .
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7 Gate2Growth, 8 9

E3M: European Indicators and Ranking Methodology for University Third Mission

SIAMPI: Social Impact Assessment Methods for research and funding instruments through the study of Productive Interactions

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