Helices Overlapping In The Italian Mega-Universities. The Influence Of Innovative Didactics In Promoting The Third Mission

The university system is increasingly committed to developing a continuous and interdependent interaction with the labor market and civil society. This implies the diversification of its missions which is recognized by different studies and models, as the helixes models. Many studies and activities are carried out to promote the link between teaching and research on the one hand and research and the third mission, on the other, to favor the dissemination of knowledge outside. On the contrary, few studies – and therefore few actions – have been undertaken to link teaching and the third mission, until now mainly limited to placement initiatives. The paper presents the first phase of a study on the role of didactic innovation to provide added value to foster the relationships with the external actors. It aims to understand how the adoption of teaching innovation encourages the third mission and the involvement of the stakeholders. This first phase of the study shows that the analyzed Italian mega-universities are engaged in both didactic innovation and third mission, but they can better systematize their activities by activating the 5 helices and implementing the effectiveness of the models. In any case, the commitment of Italian universities is on the right track.