Nena Rončević

Facing New Expectations—Integrating Third Mission Activities into the University

Universities around the world have been called to (re)consider their role in society, to evaluate their mission, their relationship with various internal and external stakeholders, as well as their contribution to democratic and sustainable society. Universities are increasingly expected to be more socially accountable, to collaborate more and therefore contribute more to different public and private domains of the society. In other words, universities are impelled to assume their ‘third mission’ and to engage in various forms of interactions with local, regional, national and international business and social partners. The university pillars of teaching and research are therefore undergoing significant pressure and change. Academics are not only expected to achieve excellence in their teaching and research, but to achieve it in a way that is measurable, efficient, effective and highly relevant for the contemporary knowledge-economy and society at large. At the same time, universities have been criticized for tailoring their curricula and research as well as extending their activities by the market’s needs, thus leaving behind the civic responsibility. Authors place the issue of extending teaching and research within the wider discussion on the ‘third mission’ that thoroughly explores how universities interact with the public domain. The issues of university civic mission, education for socially responsible and active citizens, as well as the education for sustainable development, are discussed as potential answers to the pressures universities and academics are faced with on their way to become more accountable for complexity and needs of the society.

The Academic Profession and the Role of the Service Function

While teaching and research, traditionally regarded as two academic pillars, have been in the focus of numerous studies, service activity has been highlighted less. Despite the academic attention it has received lately, service is still a vaguely defined concept – or scholarly discipline – and is still searching for a more intense scientific discourse. This (sub) chapter thereby aims at contributing to the academic debate and offers some reflections on the concept of academic service, discussing data collected in 12 European countries. Highlighting the similarities and differences between senior and junior academics at universities as well as those between academics at other higher education institutions, this chapter discusses various themes linked to ‘service’: academic workload in service activities, the nature of service activities, the interconnection of service with other academic activities, ‘service character’ in academic teaching and research and academics’ views on the scholarship of service as well as their perception of institutional strategies encouraging service activities. In exploring the factors associated with the orientation of academics towards service activities, significant differences by country stand out. However, the 12-country analysis suggests that the traditional core functions of teaching and research are (still) clearly in the forefront of the academic activities, while service has remained up on the margin.

Patterns of internet use and mental health of high school students in Istria County Croatia: cross-sectional study.

Aim To examine associations between different forms of internet use and a number of psychological variables related to mental health in adolescents. Methods A cross-sectional survey was carried out on a representative sample of students (N = 1539) from all high schools in the region of Istria in Croatia (14-19 years). The associations between four factors of internet use and nine mental health indicators were analyzed using canonical correlation analysis. Results The four canonical functions suggested a significant association between different types of internet use and specific indicators of mental health (P < 0.001). Problematic internet use, more typical among boys, was associated with general aggressive behavior and substance abuse (P < 0.001). Experiences of harassment, more typical among girls, were associated with health complaints, symptoms of depression, loneliness, and fear of negative evaluation (P < 0.001). Using the internet for communication and entertainment was associated with better relationships with peers (P < 0.001), while use of the internet for academic purposes was associated with conscientiousness (P < 0.001). Conclusion The results suggest that different patterns of internet use are significantly associated with specific sets of positive and negative mental health indicators. The data support the assumption that internet use can have both positive and adverse effects on the mental health of youth.

Research Management Competencies: Croatian Academics’ Perspective

The research on the academics’ competencies, primarily teaching competencies, has been present for many years now. On the other hand, studies on academics’ research management competencies have been almost completely absent. The main research question of this study was: How do the academics in Croatia assess the importance of the research management competencies? The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyse the assessment of importance of the research management competencies on a sample of Croatian academics. The applied research method was an on-line survey, and the research instrument used was a survey questionnaire. The research included 1130 participants from seven public universities in Croatia. This paper will further analyse the differences in assessment with respect to the independent variables of sex, academic rank and research field of the research participants. The results indicate that the junior academics assess the research management competencies as statistically significantly less important in comparison with the senior academics. Additionally, men assess these competencies as more important compared with women. It should also be noted that there are differences between the academics from different research field (humanities, social sciences and arts versus natural and technical sciences). The data obtained are indicative and interesting particularly in the context of current higher education policies in Croatia, which among other issues, discuss the promotion procedures within the academic profession. In this context, it seems that research management competencies are going to be one of the important promotion criteria.