The evaluation area II assesses the procedures used to manage and improve societal engagement, strengthen the impact of the HEI’s research, development and innovation as well as artistic activities, and support an innovative organisational culture.
Based on the audit team’s evaluation, the evaluation area II is at the level good.
The audit team identified the following as the main strengths and recommendations:
Strengths
- Hanken has a strong ambition to contribute to society and its renewal. The university tackles the challenge from many angles and a relatively large proportion of Hanken’s research output focuses on this area in one way or another.
- Hanken has an agile, innovation-oriented organisational culture that allows renewal. Hanken has interesting and progressive initiatives to create societal impact, such as the HUMLOG Institute and the Hanken Business Lab. The Hanken Business Lab has clear objectives for societal impact. It not only aims to generate new business but also serves in advancing non-profit activities.
- Hanken has impressive corporate and alumni relations and engages in regular dialogue with these key stakeholders. The university has clearly benefited from this approach, for example, in terms of fundraising and the corporate relevance and impact of its activities.
Recommendations
- Hanken needs to develop a common understanding and shared narrative of what societal engagement and impact means at Hanken.
- Hanken would benefit from clearer targets for societal engagement and impact. This would help measure the extent to which it is achieving its own ambitions, to clearly identify areas for improvement and to clarify how success will be measured. A more data-driven approach would support goal-oriented work in this area.
- Hanken should reflect its strong focus on different aspects of sustainability and societal impact in its formal advisory boards, which are currently dominated by corporate representatives. Hanken should add different types of stakeholders to these bodies such as non-profits. This would provide a richer view on which to plan for the future.