Abstract
In the past few years social responsibility has appeared as a significant element of sustainable economic and social development. Although, when it comes to social responsibility, it is the large corporations that most often come under public scrutiny, social responsibility should be the backbone of actions of all the other actors of society. This paper puts special emphasis on the importance and significance of social responsibility of university, which directly influences the quality of life in the community with its educational, research and social actions. By behaving in a socially responsible manner universities show that they know how to respond to current social issues, both through projects related to community development, as well as through educational programmes that educate young people to become socially responsible individuals and equal participants in creating positive social change. As the society we live in is faced with complex economic and social issues, there is a need for a new business paradigm which is based on principles of social entrepreneurship (generating social benefits and solving social problems in a more responsible, innovative and enterprising way). Universities that recognize the importance of social entrepreneurship enrich their educational programmes and actively participate in creation of entrepreneurial environment that stimulates cross-sectoral cooperation and joint solving of social problems.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Magma Carta (1988), The Dar es Salaam Declaration on Academic Freedom and Social Responsibility of Academics (1990), Wingspread Declaration on the Civic Responsibilities of Research Universities (1997), UNESCO World Declaration on Higher Education for 21st century: Vision and Action (1998), The Bucharest Declaration on Ethical Values and Principles of Higher Education in the Europe Region (2004), Talloires Declaration (2005), Sapporo Sustainability Declaration (2008), G8 University Students’ Summit, Palermo Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development (2009)
http://talloiresnetwork.tufts.edu//wp-content/uploads/TalloiresDeclaration2005.pdf, accessed 18 March 2014
UNESCO - United Nation Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization, World Declaration on Higher Education for the Twenty-first Century: Vision and Action
http://talloiresnetwork.tufts.edu//wp-content/uploads/TalloiresDeclaration2005.pdf, accessed 18 March 2014
http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/wche/declaration_eng.htm, accessed 15 March 2014
References
Baker, M. (2010). Corporate social responsibility - what does it mean? http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/definition.php, accessed 20 March 2014
Brock, D., & Ashoka’s Global Academy for Social Entrepreneurship (2008). Social Entrepreneurship teaching Resource Handbook, Ashoka
Etzkowitz, H. (2002). The Triple helix model of University-Industry-Government implications for policy and evaluation, science policy institute, working paper, p. 1–18
Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits, the New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1970. Copyright @ 1970 by The New York Times Company.
Giuffre, L., & Ratto, S. E. (2014). A new paradigm in higher education: university social responsibility. Journal of Education & Human Development, 3(1), 231–238. http://jehdnet.com/journals/jehd/Vol_3_No_1_March_2014/15.pdf, accessed 20 March 2014.
Hayden, C.J. (2005). If you can’t make a living, how can you make a difference http://www.socialentrepreneurcoach.com/resources/if-you-cant-make-a-living.html , accessed 20 March 2014
Hughes, B. (2007). Active participation for young people – turning a slogan into reality. The Edge, Economic and Social Research Council (26), 16
Inzelt, A., Laredo, P., Sanchez, P., Marian, M., Vigano, F., Carayol, N. (2006). Third mission, methodological guide, strategic management of university research activities, observatory of the European University, PRIME – Network of Excellence funded by the European Commission, FP6 - Citizens and Governance in a knowledge-based society EC Contract Number: CITI-CT-2003-506596, Lugano, p. 117-152
Karima, R., Oshima, Y., & Yamamoto, K. (2006). Identification of subjects for social responsibility education at universities and the present activity at the University of Tokyo. Environmental Sciences, 13(6), 327–337.
Leitão, J., Silva, M. J., (2007). CSR and social marketing: what is the desired role for universities in fostering public policies? University of Beira Interior, MPRA Paper No. 2954
Maurrasse, D. (2004). A future for everyone, innovative social responsibility and community partnership. New York: Routledge. ISBN: 0-203-48795-8.
McConachie, J., & Simpson, J. (2003). Social entrepreneurship: an Australian university transforms a regional community through diversity and innovation-contents. 19, www.iier.org.au/qjer/qjer19/mcconachie.html, accessed 15 March 2014
Talloires Declaration on the Civic Roles and Social Responsibilities of Higher Education http://talloiresnetwork.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/TalloiresDeclaration2005.pdf, accessed 18 March 2014
Thöni, E., Schneller, C. (2011) Universities and knowledge societies, knowledge societies: universities and their social responsibilities, 2nd Asia-Europe education workshop, Innsbruck, Austria http://www.asef.org/images/stories/publications/documents/2nd_Education_Workshop.pdf, accessed 23 April 2015
UNESCO - United Nation Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization. World declaration on higher education for the twenty-first century: vision and action, http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/wche/declaration_eng.htm, accessed 15 March 2014
Vázquez, J.L., Aza, C.L., Lanero, A. (2015). Students’ experiences of universitiy social responsibility and perceptions of satisfaction and quality of service. Econviews, Special edition. pp. 25–39.
Vasilescu, R., Barna, C., Epure, M., & Baicu, C. (2010). Developing university social responsibility: a model for the challenges of the new civil society. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2, 4177–4182.
Further Reading
University of Washington. Foster D-Prize Competition: using business principles to solve issues of global poverty, http://depts.washington.edu/foster/tag/global-social-entrepreneurship-competition/, accessed 25 May 2015.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Perić, J., Delić, A. Developing social responsibility in Croatian Universities: a benchmarking approach and an overview of current situation. Int Rev Public Nonprofit Mark 13, 69–80 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12208-015-0144-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12208-015-0144-5