International workshop
“What do we talk about when we talk about social impact?”
19 January 2023
Teams platform (link available on ANVUR website 2 days before the event)
The workshop was organized by ANVUR together with ENQA agencies with a specific interest in social impact networking. Nowadays many interpretations and definitions of social impact are emerging, making it difficult to share a common understanding, framework, and eventually, measurement. Nevertheless, the concept is growing in relevance in higher education and research institutions, especially in the post-COVID era.
Representatives of HE and QA agencies were hosted with the aim of discussing approaches and models for the evaluation of the third mission and social impact. The purpose was building a bridge between agencies and initiatives involved in this issue, in order to exchange experiences and reach a common understanding of what is at stake and the future perspectives. Possibilities for future collaborations and projects had been also explored.
In the two sessions of the workshop, agencies presented their frameworks and shared suggestions on emerging issues. In a final roundtable, different stakeholders’ voices were presented to understand the most urgent demands coming from society.
All the interventions were guided by a common grid of questions agreed in the preparation work carried out by the organizers; each speaker was free to select the most relevant topics and the way to approach them in reference to his/her own context. The proceedings of the discussion will be resumed in a publication.
Recordings of the morning and afternoon sessions are available.