In Germany, learning through research has experienced a great upswing in the last decade, especially through project funding and research within the framework of the national “Quality Pact for Teaching” (QPL, Qualitätspakt Lehre). Forschendes Lernen – as the concept is called in German – was developed in Germany about fifty years ago. In the last twenty years, this teaching and learning concept has been adapted to current conditions and challenges through the commitment and creative ideas of various university players. Forschendes Lernen became the foundation for undergraduate research in Germany.

The Italian university system comprises 97 institutions (67 state universities, 19 legally recognized private universities, and 11 online universities). Italian universities display divergent characteristics by mission, structure, size, and location. There are different vocations (generalist vs. specialist, research-oriented vs. teaching-oriented), which involve different structures and performances that are difficult to compare. In the last decade, practices and experiences related to the engagement through partnership model have matured, focusing on the participation of students as partners in the development of research, both campus-based but especially community- and work-based. An overview of the national literature on these experiences highlights how they fall within the framework of collaborative action-research and the promotion of dialogue between universities and society, which has been particularly encouraged since 2009 by numerous European documents aimed at encouraging “a new partnership for the modernization of universities” and collaboration between universities and organizations.