Implementation of the Third Mission of the Universities: Regional Aspect

Abstract

National economic growth plays an important role in the education rate of society, since there is a strong connection between the success of the country and the level of development of human capital. In this sense, universities, as leaders of higher education, can powerfully affect the socio-economic development of society. In this article, the authors investigated different models of university development with the intention of determining the importance of their association. In addition, the authors evaluated the level and trends of the development of alliances between the universities of the Far Eastern Federal District (FEFD) as a tool for the implementation of their mission. To do this, they analyzed the websites of FEFD universities to reflect data on common activities within social activities. They also did a comparative analysis to compare the characteristics of the universities and evaluate the differences in the implementation of the social function. Finally, the correlation analysis was used to determine the effect of social events, the number of students and the university ranking. Based on these analyzes, it can be concluded that most of the universities are located in three regions: Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, as well as the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), which are pioneers in terms of the number of students. While there is a tendency to reduce government involvement in university support, the FEFD increases. In addition, it has been shown that there is a relationship between the position in the ranking of universities in the region and the number of social events. Regarding the structure of university activities in matters of social responsibility, the development of university partnership interactions in the process of implementation of social responsibility has been verified, but the level of formalization of relationships is extremely low.