CONTEXT Universities are embedded within local communities of business companies, NGOs, local associations, cities and other stakeholders, and do not operate in isolation. University’s Social Responsibility (USR) was – as a concept – derived from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and is about managing these relationships to produce an overall positive impact on society with research, development and higher education. Universities must seek to strengthen their public commitment to the city they are located in, the local economy and to the wider society through their research and higher education activities in order to have a real impact on their local communities and to improve the relevance of higher education in society. To date this potential and impact of universities on local communities is to a large extent unexploited. OBJECTIVES Therefore the UNIBILITY-project (“university meets social responsibility”) aims at strengthening the relationships of universities with their local communities through USR-activities. Specifically the project will develop strategies how universities can increase their social responsibility actively on student and researcher level, it will develop and implement USR service learning projects impacting the local community in the area of environmental, social or economic research, and will develop a USR Curriculum and train university management and students with it. Also learning networks between HE and local business partners will be created. PARTICIPANTS The UNIBILITY-project aims at working with participants of higher education on the one hand (university managers, researchers, students) and with local communities (local business partners, local NGOs, cities) on the other hand. ACTIVITIES The UNIBILITY-project will produce different intellectual outputs in four phases: - STOCKTAKING PHASE: In the first phase a reader on USR as a training material is produced, and an interactive USR Toolkit with collected ideas how to actively connect universities with their local communities. - TRAINING PHASE: In the training phase university management and students are trained in USR, using the developed training material (curriculum and material). - IMPLEMENTATION PHASE: Then project partners, students and researchers will actively implement USR activities to benefit the local communities based on the trainings which were held before. In each country two service learning projects take place, are documented interactively. Also, active cooperation with business partners and NGOs in workshop series are initiated (5 per country). - ROLL-OUT PHASE: In the roll-out phase a guideline for USR is written, which is disseminated at an international multiplier event in Spain. RESULTS AND IMPACT The UNIBILITY-project will contribute to improving relevance of HE in society, active cooperation between universities and the non-academic world, to help cities reach their full potential in terms of creating wealth, jobs and innovative solutions to the many challenges facing Europe until 2020, to forging corporate partnerships and universities' connection to business. On participant level it will contribute to reducing isolation of researchers and to increasing employability of students. USR requires engagement between universities and external stakeholders so that universities can act as a driver for the development of new markets and create real opportunities for growth.
CONTEXT Universities are increasingly expected to be responsive to the needs of society and to engage with a wide variety of external stakeholders. The increasing importance of this social dimension of higher education calls for a concerted effort to devise strategies and implement measures, which help establish universities as drivers of societal well-being. The key concept of University’s Social Responsibility (USR) was derived from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which offered a rich theoretical background to the UNIBILITY project to contribute to these major societal aims. However, USR itself is still at an early stage of development and UNIBILITY contributed to the development of this sector to produce an overall positive impact on society with research and higher education. USR can be defined as the strategic commitment to considering the wider society as a stakeholder of the university, and to acting accordingly. OBJECTIVES Therefore the UNIBILITY project aimed at strengthening the relationships of universities with their local communities through USR-activities. Specifically, the project developed training material and guidelines for universities to increase their social responsibility actively on student and staff member level. PARTICIPANTS The UNIBILITY project worked with staff members in higher education firstly (university managers, counsellors, researchers), secondly with students, and thirdly with local community partners (local business partners, local NGOs, regional associations). ACTIVITIES The UNIBILITY project produced different intellectual outputs in four phases: - STOCKTAKING PHASE: In the first phase a Reader “From CSR to USR” was written containing 12 key texts, and an interactive “USR Toolkit of Practices” with 21 practical examples how to actively connect universities with their local communities. - TRAINING PHASE: In the training phase 28 members of university management and staff were trained using the USR Training material in 19 working sessions. Then, 34 students were trained in a Summer School USR, using the developed student training material. Training material is available in English, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Slovenian. - IMPLEMENTATION PHASE: In the implementation phase students developed 8 USR service learning projects together with project partners and actively implemented USR activities beneficial to the local communities. Also, 16 workshops and lectures with business partners and NGOs were initiated, leading to closer cooperation of these stakeholders with the university. - ROLL-OUT PHASE: In the roll-out phase the 44-page “Guidelines for universities engaging in social responsibility” was written and disseminated at the international multiplier event with 78 participants on Sept. 22, 2017 at the University of Barcelona. RESULTS AND IMPACT There is clearly a growing emphasis on USR, and universities across Europe are responding to this by increased action and attention to the need to strategize USR. Therefore, there is also a growing need for training and material to use for developing such strategies. UNIBILITY contributed to producing a volume of useful materials to aid this transition process for universities. On participant level it contributed to reducing isolation of researchers and to increasing employability of students.