Third Mission

1: no poverty

KEY FACTS: UNibo4refugees

The doors of the University of Bologna are now open to refugee  students with the Unibo4Refugees project. In orientation interviews, students get the chance to submit their CVs, find out about the opportunities for study and financial aid and draw up an educational plan for rebuilding their future. 

Even before obtaining refugee status and without having to pay enrolment fees, students can enrol in single learning activities and attend Italian language courses. Enrolment in degree programmes is made easier thanks to special procedures for checking academic qualifications and admission requirements, obtaining study grants, getting exemption from fees and access to microcredit. 

Through this action 19 asylum seekers from 10 different countries registered in single learning activities for the Academic year 2017/2018 and 9 refugees enrolled in degree programmes for the Academic year 2017/2018. Most of these students come from Sub Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Somalia, Sudan, Liberia, Uganda), some others come from Pakistan, Mongolia, Syria, Ukraine. 

Among the projects developed by Unibo4Refugees in 2017, there is the construction of a new stable at the Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences of the Alma Mater. Donated by the Archbishop of Bologna, Matteo Maria Zuppi, will allow two young people requesting international protection to continue their path of work placement.

5: GENDER EQUALITY

KEY FACTS: EVENTS PROMOTED ON GENDER RELATED ISSUES

The University of Bologna promotes the valorisation of gender-related issues through organization, the participation, the patronage, the dissemination of public initiatives (such as presentations, seminars, conferences, etc.) carried out in the Campuses where the University operates, as well as through the dissemination of publications, flyers, brochoures, ect. to gender issues.

From an analysis of the events advertised through the online magazine of the University of Bologna - “UniboMagazine”, in 2017 were published 32 articles on gender-related issues. 

8: DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

KEY FACTS: ENGAGEMENT IN ACADEMIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Academic entrepreneurship refers to the interaction between university, industry, markets and society at large and encompasses different channels through which the output of academic research can be conveyed to the market. These channels include patents, licenses, university-industry collaborations, academic consulting and new venture creation. This latter, among the various mechanisms in support of the commercial exploitation of research, has received increasing attention. The actions to be implemented at the University of Bologna to support academic entrepreneurship can be grouped according to five main conceptual dimensions, representing five pillars on which the strategy builds:

• inspiring and raising awareness;
• scouting of Ideas;
• pre-incubating services;
• incubating;
• accellerating and enabling growth

9: INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE

KEY FACTS: INCUBATORS

Our commitment for innovative entrepreneurial solutions emerges with the network of incubators within the campuses, such as Innovation Square in Rimini, CesenaLab in Cesena and Basement in Forlì. These offer incubation, preincubation and idea-scouting services, on top of spaces.

AlmaCube represents the incubator jointly founded in March 2013 by the University of Bologna together with Unindustria Bologna, in order to support the generation of highly innovative companies, spin-offs or start-ups.

We also have 98 patents, including new plant varieties, to testify our great motivation and action towards a sustainable innovation.

KEY FACTS: PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

The commitment and the improvement of the city life and community is one of main task for our University. We offer plenty of events and an University Museum Network of 14 museums, all over the campus cities and even more.

We organized 1.180 events in Bologna, 60 in Rimini, 51 in Forlì, 49 in Ravenna, 20 in Cesena and 62 in other places. The events we arranged can be grouped by type:

• 338 events and meetings;
• 169 performances and festivals;
• 704 seminars and conferences;
• 11 University ceremonies;
• 29 exhibitions;
• 104 workshop and guided tours;
• 14 guidance and work.

We also implement various of sustainable activities and improvements in our buildings to enhance the quality of the entire ecosystem.
We had 251,153 m² of smart buildings and 4,567,861 m² of green areas (both taken from Green Metric 2016).

15: LIFE ON LAND

KEY FACTS: AUB - THE UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA EXPERIMENTAL FARM

The AUB - University of Bologna Experimental Farm dates from 1974 and was designed to support research and experiments conducted by departments of the Bologna University School of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medical Sciences. As concerns research, the Farm enables programmes to be devised for the benefit of theoretical and applied studies. Experimental projects include issues bound up with farm management: defence of the land, fertilizing the land, and improving techniques of herbaceous and tree cultivation.

The Ozzano Centre has a teaching cow-house for dairy cattle, geared to experimentation with different feeds and their yield. One section of the Farm is applying an ongoing protocol of organic agriculture, a subject of wide topical interest yet controversial in the technical and scientific world. Today’s Farm puts on services to design, implement and maintain areas of greenery throughout the University; it also runs a canteen at the Cadriano Centre for teaching and experiment.

In general, it is an ‘observatory’ onto agriculture as practised in our country, fielding the kind of questions that consumers and agriculturists expect the academic world to answer. This helps to make experimental and research projects more ‘targeted’. This whole multi-faceted facility forms an important training ground for students; it is used for guided tours and practical work, and can be profitably harnessed to practical applied internships and above all graduation dissertations

KEY FACTS: INVOLVMENT IN EXTERNAL INSTITUTIONAL ACTIVITIES - PARTICIPATION INTO THE MAGNA CHARTA OBSERVATORY

The University of Bologna widely supports the goals and activities of the Magna Charta Observatory of Fundamental Values and Rights (MCO). Founded by the University of Bologna and the European University Association, the Magna Charta Observatory is the global guardian of fundamental university values set out in the Magna Charta  Universitatum and assists universities and higher education systems to operate effectively in accordance with these values.

The University of Bologna was among the first universities to sign the Magna Charta in 1988 and to declare its core values, such as academic freedom and autonomy. Since then, over 800 universities from 85 countries have signed this statement and the University of Bologna continues to support it through a number of initiatives.

In 2017, it produced a conference statement on diversity and social engagement that was promoted during the 2017 G7 in Taormina and is now taking part in a pilot project to review universities values worldwide, thus continuing to strengthen the bonds between universities and society.

KEY FACTS: ALMA ENGAGE

AlmaEngage is a virtual structure for coordinating development cooperation activities within the University of Bologna at a local and an international level. AlmaEngage is part of a broader process in which universities are opening up to the outside world, are actively engaging in social and public issues and are sharing as well as transferring knowledge to the benefit of society. This project serves as a way to promote and put in place any planned initiatives, as well as to create and implement new ones aimed at sensitizing and stimulating academic and non-academic stakeholders on the themes of development cooperation.

Within the activities of AlmaEngage, the University of Bologna has collaborated with international NGOs to identify opportunities for student mobility within development cooperation projects. As for promotion and communication, the University has recently created a photographic exhibition that shows its projects on development cooperation all over the world.

KEY FACTS: RUS - NETWORK OF UNIVERSITIES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The University of Bologna is a part of The Italian Network of Universities for Sustainable Development (RUS), the first experience of coordination and sharing, with the main goal to spread the culture of sustainability.

The Institutional Objectives are:

• harmonizing institutional activities and improving the management of the members environmental and social aspects, even through continuous monitoring of the state of sustainability within the Universities.
• Creating a community which is able to develop/spread/transfer/adapt national and International best practises with particular attention to sustainability in International rankings and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.
• Promoting projects, and developing joint initiative, in areas such as knowledge and skills transmission, education and university management, with a focus on learning and on a multistakeholder/ multidisciplinary blend.
• Developing a multidisciplinary approach in university programs, with the purpose of contributing in the growth of the sustainable development culture.
• Training and updating the staff of Italian universities (professors, technical-administrators, collaborators and linguistic experts) on the topics of sustainable development, including teachers and professors from different levels of education, if necessary.
• Developing awareness and promotion campaigns at local, national and international level, to stimulate stakeholder engagement. 
• Increasing collaboration with public bodies as well as with public and private businesses, in order to join forces and achieve RUS’ goals regarding the Third Mission of the University.
• The RUS Network actively collaborates with the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (AsviS) and is officially represented inside the seventeen working groups related with SDGs promotion.

KEY FACTS: UI GREEN METRIC 2017

UI GreenMetric is an international ranking of universities, published by the Universitas Indonesia of Jakarta, focused on the evaluation of their environmental sustainability. The assessment is based on a list of items grouped including six areas: Setting and Infrastructure, Energy and Climate Change, Waste, Water, Transportation and Education.

In the last edition of the ranking (2017) the University of Bologna has been ranked at position 29th in the world, and at 1st position in the Italian rank. Our University is the national coordinator of Italian Hub of GreenMetric network, and in the September of 2017 has organized the first National and Technical workshop of UI GreenMetric in Bologna, hosting the representatives of over than 30 Italian universities.