An Inquiry on the Third Mission of Universities: The Measurement of Universities' Contribution to the Social, Cultural and Economic Development of a City

“Development” is a kind of growth that leads to the transformation of social and official organisms including innovation in cultural values, worldview, and consumption and behaviour patterns. Accordingly, development is a living organism as indicated by developments in many fields such as economics, science, art, sports, education, democracy, and freedom to improve prosperity. Since development begins with innovation in human resources and national development processes depends on regional and urban development, education, and educational institutes can be accepted as one of the initiatives and accelerative factors of development. Therefore, the role of city universities is important in the development of cities and countries. The purpose of this study is to determine the contribution of four major universities in Ankara to the social, cultural, and economic development of the city. The data were collected by a structured questionnaire, which was developed by the researchers to be used in interviewing with vice rectors of these four universities. Three of those vice rectors are from state universities, and one of them is from a private university. The qualitative data were analyzed by descriptive analysis. On the basis of results, it is concluded that universities in Ankara play their “third mission” by contributing to the development of their surroundings.