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Third Stream, Fourth Mission: Perspectives on University Engagement with Economic Relevance

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Abstract

Over the past three decades, university research activities have increasingly become organized towards external economic and social worlds. In this essay, we reflect on the observations and explanations made in papers published in Higher Education Policy on this topic, and discuss their contributions towards understanding university third stream activities. We build on this by considering the increased university support for student entrepreneurship that has pervaded higher education in the last several years and the implications of this trend for thinking about the economic relevancy of universities.

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Kretz, A., Sá, C. Third Stream, Fourth Mission: Perspectives on University Engagement with Economic Relevance. High Educ Policy 26, 497–506 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2013.32

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