The Research and Service Missions of the University

Abstract

The skills of individuals and other forms of human capital have become increasingly important sources of economic growth and development in modern societies. Other forms of human capital include knowledge, the translation of that knowledge into instrumental forms — technology and social institutions — and good health and nutrition. Modern universities add to a society’s stock of human capital by producing new knowledge through research, by applying that knowledge in the development of new technology and of new social institutions, by educating and training people, and by extending old and new knowledge to members of society generally, including those in the private and public sectors. Through these various activities, universities influence and shape the culture of the society, and this is an important form of human capital in its own right.