Prioritizing Effective Factors of Third Generation Universities in Higher Education A Case Study in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences

Background The rise of third generation universities as an objective representation of industry-university relationships opens new horizons of job creation for university planners and managers. In our country, most universities are placed in second generation universities category, i.e. research-oriented universities which are not so active in commercialization of research findings. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to prioritize the factors affecting third generation universities.  Methods The present study is an applied research in term of purpose which was conducted through a mixed methods approach. The statistical population of the research included faculty members, managers, and deputy directors of Mashhad University of Medical sciences in the academic year 2019-2020 (N=1041). A sample of 212 individuals was selected through stratified sampling method. Delphi method was used to obtain the opinions of 30 experts. The research tool was a research-made questionnaire extracted from the qualitative section whose validity was confirmed by experts as well as its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.9). The confirmed questionnaire with 7 factors and 25 components was administered and data were analyzed using SPSS 21 software. Results The results of the present study showed that the two factors of focus and attention of management to entrepreneurship, and reform of education and research system with emphasis on entrepreneurship had the most impact (0.97); however, the factor of applying cultural values in order to move towards third-generation universities with a coefficient of (0.75) had the least impact.  Conclusion Medical universities officials should endeavor to develop entrepreneurship in universities, which requires simultaneous planning and attention to all factors, especially the factors of management attention to entrepreneurship and reforming of education and research system.