University-Community Partnerships for Promoting Social Responsibility in Higher Education

Enakshi Sengupta, Patrick Blessinger, Craig Mahoney, Enakshi Sengupta, Patrick Blessinger, Craig Mahoney

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781839094408
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Higher Education

The role of universities is not only restricted to knowledge exchange, higher education institutions also play a leading role in the development of society, and should engage as active members of their local communities. This book provides empirical evidence on how some universities have shifted social responsibility to be one of their primary focuses, and have engaged with society to enhance their values. The authors present international case studies, from Indonesia to the UK, that examine community engagement, inequality, university-corporate partnerships, philanthropy, and sustainable futures, among other important topics.

PART I

PARTNERSHIPS AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL SOCIETY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON UNIVERSITY–COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

Enakshi Sengupta, Patrick Blessinger and Craig Mahoney

ABSTRACT

In a highly globalized, interconnected and interdependent world, universities can no longer survive in isolation. The educational, research and social actions have an impact on the community where the university works as a change agent to promote society’s fundamental values of democratic participation and social justice. Sustainability education and awareness about social responsibility (SR) are becoming crucial mainly for students, so that they are aware of concepts such as economic prosperity, resource equity, energy sustainability and environmental health concerns (Sengupta, Blessinger, & Yamin, 2019). The SR of a university is to strengthen its ties with the community through promotion of active citizenship, volunteerism and developing a sense of civic and ethical responsibility among students and staff. Universities can have a great influence on achieving social and economic progress of a country as well as protecting the environment and addressing complex issues that plague society. The role of universities is not only restricted to exchange of knowledge but also in playing a leading role as an active member of society. Universities have come out of their isolation to accommodate and be a part of social change by actively engaging in community life and not being confined to only classroom and laboratory activities (Sengupta et al., 2019). This book provides empirical evidence on how universities have considered SRs as their prime focus and have engaged with civil society to enhance their values. Case studies from Indonesia to the United Kingdom enrich the book through their experience, interventions and narrations, which can be replicated in other parts of the world to create a better society and a more sustainable planet.

Keywords: University; partnership; community; social responsibility; engagements; intervention; implementation; civil responsibility; social justice; democratization; value; sustainable planet

INTRODUCTION

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are assuming a profound role in today’s society to act as catalysts for social change with the potential to address and mitigate a variety of social problems. Community–university engagement has gained prominent ground toward creating a two-way discourse that engages the community and the students to produce socially relevant contemporary knowledge based on active participation from both and bringing a solution to the table to make the world a better place to live. The subject of community and university partnership is all encompassing and involves the participation of all active stakeholders including the staff and the faculty members. This two-way process provides beneficial experiential learning platform for the students and creates a socially responsible research platform for the faculty. Community also stands as winner by gaining the opportunity to be a part of a sustainable livelihood and enjoy empowerment and relief from poverty, unemployment and other social issues. The indirect stakeholders like government and other civil society organizations benefit by their active participation to address social problems and create positive and mutually beneficial relations with the university.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) promoted by the United Nations came into effect in 2015 and provided a common ground and a framework that were adopted by 193 countries with 169 targets to be achieved, which were divided among 17 goals (EUA, 2016). Universities are now engaged in providing sustainable development through the goals specified in 2015. Universities are involved in cutting-edge research, high-quality education and ground-breaking innovations (Goals 4 and 9). Many universities have integrated these SDGs, which are now an important part of civil society (Goal 16), and they are excellent promotors of global and local partnerships (Goal 17). Through their contributions to these four goals, universities facilitate the achievement of all the other goals specified in the SDGs (EUA, 2016).

Along with universities, the role of civil society remains unparalleled in ushering in societal changes. Civil society is now beyond its traditional definition of a third sector and is considered a vibrant and active member of society acting as facilitators, conveners and innovators who, along with the student community, is taking firm and bold steps toward inculcating social responsibility (SR) and sustainability in every individual, mainly the younger generation. The International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association is one such organization that supports the SDG initiative and encourages heads of nonprofit colleges and universities, associations and institutes to sign the Declaration on University Global Engagement and to adopt the SDGs as a global policy framework for organizing their global engagement activities to address complex global challenges.

We live in an age of contradiction. On one hand we have prosperity and on the other extreme poverty, we are in a paradoxical world of both plenty and scarcity. The rapid growth of urbanization and the race toward modernization continue to deplete us of our natural resources. Time has come to judge our own responsibility and resort to introspection of our own actions and their social relevance and impact. Along with business conglomerates, the role of universities in this process cannot be overlooked. The role of institutions of higher education (IHEs) is crucial in addressing various social concerns as well as the national development. Academics have termed this as the “social responsibility of universities,” and it is in this capacity that the universities have the potential to erase the discrepancies and inequalities prevalent in our societies. Recently published GUNi Report has clearly argued:

Social responsibility emerges as the need to reconsider the social relevance of universities in light of the encounter of the local with the global, regarding priorities, demands, impacts and knowledge needs in the context of globalization. (Grau et al., 2017, p. 41)

The concept of SR is not a novel one; it is an integral part of any academic debate and used often in the context of sustainability and globalization (Vasilescu, Barna, Epure, & Baicu, 2010). A widely used definition of SR is from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and states the following:

Corporate social responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large. (CSR: Meeting Changing Expectations, 1999)

The basic demand of SR lies in the fact that all stakeholders, be it business corporations or educational institutions, should function in a responsible manner with complete responsibility and commitment. Corporatization of universities and its effort toward profit maximization has challenged its role solely as a knowledge creator. Universities are building capacities toward fulfilling their SR and are now transforming the curriculum to address society’s socioeconomic need and encompassing introspection on the university’s internal processed environment (Nejati, Shafaei, Salamzadeh, & Daraei, 2011).

LITERATURE REVIEW

University social responsibility (USR) involves a multidisciplinary integrated approach and encompasses many different areas such as active citizenship, civil commitment, service to the community, community engagement (CE) and outreach programs, promoting economic development, encouraging students to think and act ethically to issues and motivating staff and faculty members to be actively involved in social well-being. Universities are expected to manage its social commitment along with expanding its knowledge base, indulging in research, developing human resource capacity among faculty and students in addition to educating the nation (Shawyun, 2011; Vasilescu et al., 2010). Resier (2008) defines the USR as a policy of the university containing in itself ethical qualities that affect the performance of the university–community relationship (students, faculty and administrative employees) and involve responsible management of the educational, cognitive, labor and environmental impacts, which is collectively produced by the university, in an interactive dialogue with society to encourage a sustainable human development. According to Mendez (2012), USR is an approach that encompasses science, technology and research in which contributions to the economically disadvantaged are given adequate value and attention.

The growing importance of this university–community alliance has also led to a strong emphasis on measuring the outcome and output of these activities. The benefits can be measured by repeated stakeholder engagement and by measuring the worth of any such activities in bringing about a general welfare of the masses. These impact measurement initiatives provide justification in using the resources of the university and its proximity toward achieving the outlined goals (Onyx, 2008). Universities are viewing CE as a part of their strategic plan, although not much literature is available to substantiate the claim (Hart, Northmore, & Gerhardt, 2009). Universities are attempting to define the concept of university–community partnership and are including the process and plans in their websites, detailing the approach route that they are taking toward implementing this concept (Tremblay, 2017). There is no doubt that all academics have agreed in unison that USR is as important as teaching the students in a university. The challenges lie in the fact that the vagueness and ambiguity still rule the concept with no proper measuring tool or evaluation criteria. There is a lack of standardized instrument that can measure the success of the partnership (Rowe & Frewer, 2000). There has been a growing tendency toward demanding accountability that has led to academics trying to construct benchmarks and performance indicators, which can account for the socioeconomic and cultural contribution at local and regional levels (Hart, 2010). Work needs to be done in the field of evaluating the process by which HEIs establish community partnerships and what approach route will be adopted by them to sustain the process (Kezar, 2005).

An important component of the university’s research agenda is their activity centered around the community. Universities can tailor their research mission to produce quality research that can benefit both public and the students who are involved with their faculty members in conducting such research (Turk-Bicakci & Brint, 2005). USR provides a unique platform to develop sustainability of science and research. As an important stakeholder, government must encourage such partnership and help supplement university’s efforts through funding, policies and creating opportunities for training students in technology and science to meet the needs of the marketplace and industry (Leitão & Silva, 2007).

Activities that facilitate university–community partnership has a wider impact on four kinds of audiences (Ferman & Hill, 2004); they are the educational institution that is actively involved in strategizing such a partnership, faculty members, students and the community in which they are located. Students are made more aware of the problems in the community; they are connected to the practical aspect of life and are actively involved in seeking solutions an...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Part I. Partnerships and Community Engagement
• Part II. Policies and Pedagogies
• About the Authors
• Name Index
• Subject Index