by Brennan Weiss
Corporate social responsibility has been a fixture in the business world for decades, and has become embedded in many universities as higher education leaders seek alternative ways to achieve sustainability.
The purpose of corporate social responsibility or CSR is to guide organisations to act “in an ethical and transparent way that contributes to the health and welfare of society”, according to ISO business standards.
Some universities refer to themselves as ‘engaged’ institutions involved in civil and community service or ‘outreach’, such as members of the global Talloires Network of 363 universities in 77 countries.
More and more universities around the world are integrating social responsibility into their mission statements, including their research and teaching missions, arguing that higher education is better off when it gives back to the society that is responsible for funding it.
“If you go to university you’ll live longer, you’ll earn a higher salary, you’ll be more influential in life and your children will have a better life,” said Craig Mahoney, vice-chancellor of the University of the West of Scotland in the United Kingdom.
“It seems to me that having a socially responsible institution is actually common sense.”
Mahoney and other university leaders discussed incorporating CSR into the framework of higher education during a session headlined “Social responsibility – Embedding the third pillar” at the Association of Commonwealth Universities or ACU Conference of University Leaders 2016, held in Ghana’s capital Accra from 27-29 July.
Approaches
During his presentation, Mahoney said that universities “cannot be sustainable without being socially responsible”, especially in terms of procuring adequate funding and making higher education accessible to students of all socio-economic backgrounds.
In addition to issuing a social responsibility statement that defines its approach to CSR, the University of the West of Scotland says it actively encourages community engagement and relies on partnering with local and international organisations to maximise its impact on society.
The university, for example, is currently working with the local government to re-energise the city of Paisley, a once booming but now rundown metropolis vying for the UK City of Culture title in 2021. Mahoney is a member of the Paisley 2021 Partnership Board with other community leaders to help the city earn the bid.
