The Future of Education
University Social Responsibility through the Lens of Students: Does it Really Matter?
Marcia Coelho, CIIE- University of Porto (Portugal)
Rachel Drayson, NUS- National Union of Students (United Kingdom)
Isabel Menezes, CIIE- Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto Portugal (Portugal)
Abstract
In times of intense social change that pose a new set of demands to education, higher education institutions are called to face their inner values of social responsibility in the development of "public-minded alumni”[1],in the promotion of equal opportunities for all, despite their different cultural and social backgrounds, in terms of access, progression and completion [2] and in the provision of opportunities for students to becomeinvolved in intervention projects and activities that promote active citizenship and democratic participation, beyond academic knowledge [3]. University Social Responsibility (USR) is pointed out as central by several international organizations such as UNESCO [4]or ISO26000[5] but despite the increase of research in this area [6][7]the potential impacts of students’ participation in USR training and projects are not yet sufficiently studied. Therefore, this research aims to consider how students from three European universities (Edinburgh, Porto and Kaunas) perceive USR and the impact of their participation in the Erasmus + project ESSA – experiential training with actual involvement in a university social responsibility audit process –, through focus-group discussions, along with the analysis of students’ diaries.
Keywords: University Social Responsibility; Higher education; Students; Experiential learning; Social Audit;
References:
[1] Chase, W. (1923), The social responsibilityof the state university. Journal of Social Forces, 1 (5), 517-521.
[2] London Communiqué (2007), Towards the European Higher Education Area: respondingto challenges in a globalised world.Available at: http://www.ehea.info/articledetails.aspx?ArticleId=43.
[3] Simons, Maarten & Masschelein, Jan (2009). The Public and Its University: beyond learning for civic employability? European Educational Research Journal, 8 (2), 204-217.
[4] UNESCO (1998), World Conference on Higher Education. Higher Education in the Twenty-first Century: Vision and Action.Paris, 5-9 October 1998. Volume I, Final Report, Paris: UNESCO. Available at:
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0011/001163/116345e.pdf.
[5] ABNT NBR ISO 26000 (2010), Diretrizes sobre responsabilidade social(1a ed.) 2010.
[6] Larrán, JM; López, H. & Márquez Moreno, C. (2011), La comunidad universitaria andaluza ante la responsabilidad social: un estudio de opinión. In Foro de los Consejos Sociales de las Universidades Públicas de Andalucía.
[7] Martin, Brian (2016). University Social Responsibility: A common European Reference Frame work. Available at: www.eu.usr.eu.
