One of the objectives of the study was to ascertain the main ways in which MUK networks and partners with its external communities. The previous discussion in Chapter 5 shows that the main forms of such networks and partnerships are consultancy, contract research, the mobility of people, involvement in public debates and social life, collaborative research, the commercialisation of research results, CE, field attachment, field-based learning, the sharing of facilities and services with external communities and the participation of external communities in the decision-making processes of the university (see Table 21 for a summary of the activities). These activities have been categorised into three broad
but overlapping types—knowledge transfer and innovation, continuing education, and social engagement—that together epitomise the process and ways in which the university (1) reaches out to communities, (2) utilises its knowledge capabilities to contribute to socioeconomic development and (3) involves the external communities in its academic activities and decision-making processes. Thus, although these activities differ, they are all characterised by the exchange of knowledge between the university and its various external communities. The typology of TM activities, discussed in Section 5.4 and summarised in Table 21, draws heavily on the classification of the TM by Carot et al. (2012) and relates to (a) the classification of third-stream activities by Molas-Gallart et al. (2002), (b) the typology of university engagement activities by Benneworth et al. (2009)81 and (c) the dimensions of the TM proposed by Montesinos et al. (2008),82 Schoen et al. (2006)83 and Doh (2012).84
Table 21. Typology of Third Mission Activities at Makerere University
Category Activities Units involved
Knowledge transfer and
innovation Consultancy MISR, CHDC, FTBIC
Contract research MISR, CHDC
Mobility of people MUPSF, colleges and schools Public debates and social life MISR, HURIPEC, colleges Collaborative research Colleges and schools Commercialisation of research results TDTC, FTBIC, NSIC and UGT Continuing education Continuing education FTBIC, HURIPEC, CLL and CLCS
Social engagement Field attachment Colleges , schools and UGT
Field-based learning Colleges/schools
Sharing of university facilities and
services with the external public University library Involvement of external public in the
university’s decision-making processes MUPSF, University Council, University Senate
Source: Author (based on the classification of the TM by Carot et al., 2012).
The above-mentioned TM activities can also be categorised into four types:
1. Activities that are officially embedded in the programmes of the university—for instance, field attachment and partly field-based learning;
81 Engaged research, knowledge sharing and service and teaching.
82 Social third mission, enterprising third mission and innovative third mission.
83 An economic dimension (comprising intellectual property, spin-offs and contracts with industry) and a societal dimension (encompassing public understanding of science, involvement in social and cultural life, participation in policy-making and contracts with public bodies).
84 Commissioned research, advisory services and consultancy, industry-tailored programmes, capacity- building, advocacy and continuous and distance education and so forth.
2. Activities that are carried out, though not entirely, by specialised units—for instance, continuing education and consultancy;
3. Activities that bring external communities to the university and/or formally involve the external communities in the decision-making processes of the university; and 4. Activities initiated or carried out by the academic staff individually or in groups
(e.g., media appearances and consultancy).
However, as in the case of the three categories presented in Table 21, these groups of activities also overlap and reinforce each other. For example, when the members of the academic staff carry out consultancy, contract research and collaborative research, they create connections that often facilitate field engagement, field-based learning and CE. In addition, these activities are not the only ways through which the university engages with, and/or reaches out to, the external communities. Staff and students at MUK engage with the external communities in a variety of personal ways that are quite helpful in connecting the communities with the resources of the university and vice versa. In fact, it is public knowledge that some of the academic staff at MUK are involved in teaching, consultancy and other off-campus activities, which bring the academic staff closer to the external communities and, accordingly, facilitate mutual learning between the university and the external communities. Unfortunately, such interactions do not necessarily constitute the TM because they are largely unintentional, unplanned, unsupported, unrecorded and unrewarded. Therefore, the TM is not just a set of unintentional and erratic activities through which universities engage with non-academic domains and contribute to socioeconomic development; the TM involves a necessary degree of obligation (Nedeva, 2008)—that is, it is expected, and its associated activities are intentional and institutional rather than personal in nature.
In addition, as the discussion in Chapter 5 demonstrated, some of the TM-related activities outlined in Table 21 are not necessarily new at MUK (Openjuru & Ikoja- Odongo, 2012; Russell, 1963; Sicherman, 2009); the university has historically reached out to, and, at times, engaged with, the external communities. However, whereas, in the past, these activities—for instance, consultancy, the commercialisation of research results and field attachment—were, for the most part, personal and part of some (not all) academic disciplines, they are currently regarded as an essential aspect of the university and have been fairly institutionalised. For example, field attachment, which, in the past, was restricted to undergraduate students in certain professional fields (for instance, education, engineering, agriculture and medicine), is now compulsory for all undergraduate students.
Therefore, partnerships and networks between the university and the external communities are not new at MUK; what is new is the reframing of partnerships and networking as a core function of the university and, thus, the development of policies, programmes and structures to support it.