The Socially Responsible European University: A Challenging Project

Autor/inn/en	Barnett, Ronald; Guzmán-Valenzuela, Carolina
Titel	The Socially Responsible European University: A Challenging Project
Quelle	In: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 23 (2022) 4, S.752-766 (15 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1467-6370
DOI	10.1108/IJSHE-03-2021-0100
Schlagwörter	Social Responsibility; Universities; Social Systems; Educational History; Educational Change; Interdisciplinary Approach; Institutional Mission; Futures (of Society); Climate; Foreign Policy; Conservation (Environment); Foreign Countries; Europe + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Soziale Verantwortung; University; Universität; Social system; Soziales System; History of education; Bildungsgeschichte; Bildungsreform; Fächerübergreifender Unterricht; Fächerverbindender Unterricht; Interdisziplinarität; Future; Society; Zukunft; Klima; Außenpolitik; Conservation; Environment; Konservierung; Bewahung; Umwelt; Ausland; Europa
Abstract	Purpose: This paper aims to propose a thesis about the historical evolution of the relationship of the European University in relation to the idea of social responsibility. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is philosophical, conceptual and theoretical and in proffering a bold thesis, has an argumentative character appropriate to that style. Findings: Three stages can be identified over the past 200 years in the relationship between the university and the matter of social responsibility, being successively tacit, weak and now hybrid. In the present stage, new spaces are opening for the university to transcend social responsibility, moving to a worldly and earthly responsibility. However, this new stage is having to contend against the university in an age of cognitive capitalism. As such, a large but hitherto unnoticed culture war is present, the outcome of which is unclear. Research limitations/implications: The scholarship informing this paper is wide-ranging and multi-disciplinary (history, social theory, philosophy, critical higher education studies, literature on the idea of the university, comparative higher education, ethics and sociology of knowledge), as it has to be in sustaining the large thesis being contended for, and it has broad hinterlands, which can only lightly be intimated. Practical implications: The key implication is that the idea of social responsibility is currently being construed too narrowly and that, therefore, universities -- in developing their corporate strategies and missions -- should be more ambitious and set their responsibility goals against horizons that go well beyond the social realm. Originality/value The thesis developed here is original in offering a three-stage theory of a 200-year evolution of the socially responsible European university. A new stage of an Earthly responsibility is glimpsed but it is having to contend with a continuing performative university, so leading to a hidden culture war and such that the future of university social responsibility is in doubt. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01