University's social commitment through knowledge transfer in the research of Social Pedagogy

Abstract

A new millennium university must be able to produce high quality research which results in innovation focused on improving the wellbeing of its time's society. On this basis, this research's objective has been to study universities and their degree of commitment with their research on Social Pedagogy. This has been done using an indicators system of knowledge transfer active processes. The answer to this goal has been provided through an exploratory study of 47 researches, done by 41 research teams in which 131 universities have participated between 2013 and 2018. The study provides the construction of a knowledge transfer indicators system in Social Pedagogy, its application and a first panoramic perspective of Social Pedagogy's position in terms of a university's "third mission". The results show a good positioning, with researches diversified on subjects, population and research methodologies. There are consistent and good quality projects, often interdisciplinary and networked, with academic impact and especially with a great social and professional impact, even though there is a lack of formalisation in terms of registering this social and professional transfer.