New Public Management Principles and the Emergence of Third Mission in Italian, Spanish and French Universities

The aim of this article is to reflect critically on the emergence of the ‘Third Mission’ in three Higher Education Systems (HEIs) such as the French, the Italian and the Spanish. All of them are characterised by a Napoleonic and centralised mode of governance. Reforms that took place in each country since the 1980s which embrace New Public Management principles, were analysed. Based on a genealogical research design, the analysis of reforms testifies to the transition from a centralized mode of governance to a quasi-market model. The main similarities and internal resistances to the adoption of NPM principles within Third Mission’s practices, adopted by the three countries, will be highlighted.