Beyond Teaching and Research: Measuring the Societal Impact of Universities

Higher education institutions face growing pressure to demonstrate and quantify societal contributions beyond research and teaching; this study addresses measurement challenges for third-mission activity by developing both a conceptual typology and a practical assessment framework. We developed a four-dimension typology—research-based impact, teaching-based impact, campus-management-anchored impact, and administrative infrastructure—that synthesizes the existing literature while drawing attention to under-examined areas such as campus operations and institutional support. Methodologically, we synthesize the literature, analyze national and international best practices, and design an assessment approach that combines individual case studies and evidence-based questionnaires with automated metrics applied in multi-year cycles. We demonstrate that the typology reflects a broad range of impact pathways and argue that the proposed framework balances rigor and feasibility while surfacing key measurement tensions—breadth versus depth; general-purpose versus domain-specific metrics; input versus output indicators; levels of analysis; and assessment burden versus outcome quality. We conclude with actionable recommendations for academic staff, institutional leaders, and national agencies to integrate third-mission activities into evaluation and funding systems, offering a methodological toolkit that may support impact assessment into HEI evaluation without overstating conclusions.