Regional Economic Sustainability: Universities’ Role in Their Territories

The sustainability of territories (e.g., regions and countries) is currently an issue that should be considered when implementing organizational strategies. The globalization, industrialization, and population growth trends observed in recent decades have forced experts to adopt a sustainable approach capable of guaranteeing that a population’s present needs can be met without compromising future generations’ well-being. Among the essential pillars of successful sustainability strategies, social development stands out as quite important, so the present study focused on it. Social development strategies include ensuring a satisfactory level of education while simultaneously fostering an adequate quality of life and long-term sustainability. Thus, this study’s objective was to gain a clearer understanding of universities’ role as promoters of education and generators of populations that become more deeply rooted in their territory of origin. One public university, the University of Extremadura in Spain, was found to play a unique, specific role in its region, as this institution has quite unique characteristics that differentiate it from other nearby universities. This study measured the regional population’s preferences by assessing an interest group’s levels of satisfaction and by observing the influence of quality and innovation on this group’s perceptions of the public university’s operations. A questionnaire was prepared and distributed electronically to all University of Extremadura students. The final sample consisted of data from 362 questionnaires, which were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicated that the students’ perceptions of this institution’s innovation and quality are determinants of their satisfaction levels. In addition, this university is considered to be a reason to remain in the region, promoting residents’ sense of belonging and helping consolidate the region as a sustainable area.