Dear colleagues:

The main objective of the second edition of this newsletter is to share with you the progress this Project has had in its first and second phase for the latin american universities, the way they have been developed, and what the future will bring.

It is important to remind you this newsletter has five sections which will allow you to see firsthand what the project is about, how it has been developed, other important highlights, and all that will follow. Likewise, you can find additional information of interest related to this in the website impalaproject.eu

We hope you get in contact with us and follow closely this joint growth from the development of the IMPALA project.

Marcela del Campo M.
Coordinator of the IMPALA project, Catholic University of Colombia

Christophe Terrasse

The annual conference of the EAIE (European Association for International Education) was held in Helsinki, Finland, between September 24th and 27th 2019. This conference hosted more than 6000 professionals from 95 different countries and it was the background of the session entitled: ““Getting inspiration from South-South cooperation to reshape education partnerships”. During the session some relevant points were shared regarding IMPALA (Strengthening Impact for Latin American universities);an inspirational project due to three reasons:

• First, it approaches a fundamental topic for Latin American countries such as the Third Mission
• Second, it is a well-structured project
• Third, its methodology is based on an experiential approach regarding its structure and the evaluation of results

The session was run by Christophe Terrasse and Jean-Baptiste Maillard from the EFMD; Mabelin Armenteros Amaya from Universidad Agraria of Habana, Cuba; and Marcela Del Campo from the Catholic University of Colombia, Colombia.

Marcela Del Campo, Mabelin Armenteros, David Almaguer

Through the project Erasmus + IMPALA, the panelists presented a series of successful cooperation practices among the three Latin American countries and their institutions. As well as the advantages of a north-south cooperation in order to develop a logical frame of evaluation to the impact of the Third Mission of the University

Poster session within the framework of the 2020 university congress

Within the framework of the 2020 University Congress, 12th International Congress of Education, which took place in Havana, Cuba, they presented the progress of the IMPALA project.

Mabelin Armenteros, vice director of the Agrarian University of Havana, and Marcela Del Campo, director of Extension of the Catholic University of Colombia, presented the session called “Impala Project: An Approach to Measuring The Impact of The Third Mission of Universities.”

The session showed participants how the project structure contributes to the construction of a Reference framework for impact measurement, as well as the achievements obtained so far, among which are the development of phases 1 and 2 and the planning of projects that will allow the piloting of the indicators built for the 9 typologies of the third mission from the social, environmental, epistemological, and economic dimensions.

Finally, they shared the fundamental lessons learned for the permanent co-construction of the project. The project is then expected to be configured as a response to one of the challenges of university extension, third mission, which is the impact measurement of this fundamental function of the university.

Boris Peña, Martha Busquets, Mabelin Armenteros

Within the framework of the same 2020 International University Congress, the experiences of the IMPALA project were presented in the panel “Good Practice Experiences in ERAMUS+ International Cooperation Projects.”

David Almaguer, coordinator of the University of Holguin, explained the objectives of the projects and the progress in implementation. Representatives from other consortium institutions such as MES, UNAH, UCLV from Cuba, and ESADE from Spain participated in the panel

The IMPALA project is in its second phase in which the associated institutions will start to implement the two projects of the Third Mission. Those are framed within the six typologies and the four dimensions both showed in the frame of reference for impact measurement

These typologies have been organized as it follows:

• Formative: The university is linked to its environment through centred spaces oriented to the development of skills ↔ Continuing education.
• Researcher: The university is linked through its environment through an I+D transforming vision of innovation ↔ Management of innovation: Advising or consultancy services.
• Social: The university is linked to its environment through actions that lead to a human sustainable development ↔ Assistance services; cultural affairs, community projects.

Furthermore, the dimensions that are taken into account are the social, the economic, the gnoseologic and the environmental one.