University Community Partnerships For Promoting Social Responsibility In Higher Education

This book provides empirical evidence on how universities have considered social responsibilities as their prime focus, and engaged with civil society to enhance their values. Case studies from Indonesia to the United Kingdom enrich the book through experience, interventions and narratives.

This book explores the theoretical underpinnings and interventions of CSR practised by universities across the globe and the role their leadership plays in promoting this. It provides international examples from the US, Africa, Europe and Asia, with implications and insights for university leadership, staff, and students.

“In their comparative analysis of several universities from different parts of the world, the authors make a case for the critical roles that higher education institutions can play in building the civic framework in a society.”—Kyle Farmbry, Professor, School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University-Newark, United States “By defining community, discussing how universities are often contested spaces, and covering how universities and students engage their communities, the authors make the case for the future university as one that facilitates civic health.”—William Hatcher, Associate Professor, Augusta University, United States; Co-Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Public Affairs Education “With a rich variety of historic notions, views, projects, examples and policies, the book inspires to re-think current positioning of students, staff and academic institutions in society.”—Goos Minderman, Professor (Extraordinary), University of Stellenbosch Business School, South Africa This book adds to a robust dialogue about the role of higher education in society by examining the promotion of civic health through university-community partnerships and the role of intellectual leaders, scientists, philosophers, university administrators and students in shaping whole or parts of the world. Our global society faces significant social and environmental challenges. Professors and whole universities have an obligation to help address these issues; how they do so is subject to social, cultural, and institutional context. With lessons from Americans, British, Estonians, Lithuanians, Russians, South Africans and beyond, the authors describe the state of the practice and provide frameworks through which universities and people working within or in partnership with can affect change in communities and civic lives.

This book provides empirical evidence on how universities have considered social responsibilities as their prime focus, and engaged with civil society to enhance their values. Case studies from Indonesia to the United Kingdom enrich the book through experience, interventions and narratives.

Examine how your university can help solve the complex problems of your community Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC) sponsored by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have identified civic engagement and community partnership as critical themes for higher education. This unique book addresses past, present, and future models of university-community partnerships, COPC programs, wide-ranging social work partnerships that involve teaching, research, and social change, and innovative methods in the processes of civic engagement. The text recognizes the many professions, schools, and higher education institutions that contribute to advancing civic engagement through university-community partnerships. One important contribution this book makes to the literature of civic engagement is that it is the first publication that significantly highlights partnership contributions from schools of social work, which are rediscovering their community roots through these initiatives. University-Community Partnerships: Universities in Civic Engagement documents how universities are involved in creative individual, faculty, and program partnerships that help link campus and community-partnerships that are vital for teaching, research, and practice. Academics and practitioners discuss outreach initiatives, methods of engagement (with an emphasis on community organization), service learning and other teaching/learning methods, research models, participatory research, and “high-engagement” techniques used in university-community partnerships. The book includes case studies, historical studies, policy analysis, program evaluation, and curriculum development. University-Community Partnerships: Universities in Civic Engagement examines: the increasing civic engagement of institutions of higher education civic engagement projects involving urban nonprofit community-based organizations and neighborhood associations the developmental stages of a COPC partnership problems faced in evaluating COPC programs civic engagement based on teaching and learning how pre-tenure faculty can meet research, teaching, and service requirements through university-community partnerships developing an MSW program structured around a single concentration of community partnership how class, race, and organizational differences are barriers to equality in the civic engagement process University-Community Partnerships: Universities in Civic Engagement is one of the few available academic resources to address the importance of social work involvement in COPC programs. Social work educators, students, and practitioners, community organizers, urban planners, and anyone working in community development will find it invaluable in proving guidance for community problem solving, and creating opportunities for faculty, students, and community residents to learn from one another.

This book explores the concept of university social responsibility, drawing on a wide range of geographical perspectives, such as China and Germany. It also examines the diverse aspirations of universities, from preserving authenticity and safeguarding Catholic values, to embedding sustainability into the community. It provides a storytelling framework for teaching sustainability in management education as an approach to strengthening the social role of universities and showcases how a service-learning approach could promote the engagement of universities within the community. This book is valuable reading for academics who are researching sustainability management, corporate and organisational social responsibility and other related social sciences. It has interdisciplinary appeal for scholars and serves interesting for practitioners.

Listen to the podcast! Is the university contributing to our global crises or does it offer stories of hope? Much recent debate about higher education has focussed upon rankings, quality, financing and student mobility. The COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, the calls for decolonisation, the persistence of gender violence, the rise of authoritarian nationalism, and the challenge of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have taken on new urgency and given rise to larger questions about the social relevance of higher education. In this new era of uncertainty, and perhaps opportunity, higher education institutions can play a vital role in a great transition or civilisational shift to a newly imagined world. Socially Responsible Higher Education: International Perspectives on Knowledge Democracy shares the experiences of a broadly representative and globally dispersed set of writers on higher education and social responsibility, broadening perspectives on the democratisation of knowledge. The editors have deliberately sought examples and viewpoints from parts of the world that are seldom heard in the international literature. Importantly, they have intentionally chosen to achieve a gender and diversity balance among the contributors. The stories in this book call us to take back the right to imagine, and ‘reclaim’ the public purposes of higher education.

This book provides a critical review of the theory and practice of University Social Responsibility. In addition to addressing the nature of and concepts surrounding University Social Responsibility, as well as its ties to areas such as service learning or engaged scholarship, the book also presents effective practices from around the world. Dedicated chapters demonstrate how University Social Responsibility can manifest itself in different types (civic, moral, economic or global responsibility), levels (local, national, regional or international), and formats (partnership, venture or joint project), depending on local contexts and needs. The book also focuses on three areas of work – educating students to take on social responsibility, broadening access to education, and applying knowledge to societal problems – to highlight the potential and viable ways University Social Responsibility can be employed to promote quality of life in society. Offering a unique resource, it is intended to stimulate thinking and expand the repertoire of all educators, administrators, and organizations who wish to incorporate societal needs into their core mission and promote quality of life in different communities around the world.