Di Sara Ramella - Pro-rector for integration and social impact UCBM
A gift can change people's lives.
Every day in our role as university professors we donate knowledge, often forgetting the unexpressed potential of our knowledge which can improve the entire society.
The so-called "third mission" is precisely this: the possibility for the university world to play a decisive role in society beyond the boundaries of scientific research and theoretical reflection on crucial issues.
The social impact of universities is today at the center of discussion in the academic world called to enhance the role of the so-called "third mission".
Of the two pillars on which it is based, the economic valorization of knowledge and the cultural and social mission, we want to reflect here above all on the second.
As a small university that we are, thematic and with a focus strongly oriented towards innovative technologies, we represent a true community of thought and action, and we are aware of it.
In the folds of our 14 degree courses and the many master's degrees and training courses, specialization schools and beyond, countless social and cultural initiatives come to life to be shared externally.
Many groups of people united by passion and driven by the desire to know, help and share give life to a large number of activities week after week. Appointments that can benefit society, students, alumni, the territory, patients, teachers and university employees.
Putting this heritage of "public goods" into a system is a stimulating challenge that fits perfectly with our vision of a university, that of an open and networked community.
Let us therefore start again from our values, in this 30th anniversary which helps us to understand where we come from and where we are going, to analyze the social impact of our activities from the perspective of that motto, "Science for Man", which has always he guides and accompanies us.
How can we therefore be "for man" also through the third mission?
First of all, knowing that these activities must speak to everyone through the communication tools available to the university, the mass media, the school and public events. By creating meeting opportunities, aggregation initiatives, awareness-raising, dissemination and prevention, we can make the social impact of our initiatives concrete.
Already today the panorama is vast and ranges from university events that stimulate public engagement to international cooperation activities linked to workcamps in developing countries; from the involvement of international students to the promotion of sports activities, with families and alumni; from the possibilities offered in the technological spaces and laboratories which are also made available to local businesses to encourage research and experimentation up to the strengthening of existing master's degrees and courses.
All this starts from chiara definition of our directions, indicated by the University's strategic plan, and will continue with constant and careful monitoring over time of the satisfaction and effectiveness of the various activities that are carried out to make social impact a living instrument of relationship and growth.
This effort requires a fundamental contribution from the teaching staff who are becoming increasingly aware of how much the goods produced within the university walls can increase the well-being of society, whether they are goods with a cultural, social, educational and/or civil awareness content.
Only the synergistic work of all the active components in the university social fabric will make visible the positive effects of everyone's work on the territory we live in, in the reality we are called to live, increasing the weight and consolidating the value of an institution that has always had center of attention is the person and therefore society.