European Universities Initiative: How Universities May Contribute to a More Sustainable Society

The European Universities initiative, launched by the European Commission in 2018, has its origin in the concept of Civic Universities (CivUs) and consists of transnational higher education alliances throughout the European Union that share long-term strategies. They are expected to become universities of the future, to promote European ideals and character, and to revolutionize the competitiveness and excellence of European higher education. European universities add 41 alliances, involving 31 different countries. This article presents an early quantitative evaluation of this initiative. This paper addresses the coverage of the 41 alliances and selects five of the most advanced for a deeper evaluation of their best practices and their contribution to the realization of CivUs. This paper also outlines the criteria for evaluating the extent to which good practices implemented by these alliances are aligned and can contribute to the attributes of CivUs, based upon state-of-the-art educational standards. A quantitative framework, based on application of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), is also provided to rank the good practices developed by these alliances against the previous evaluation criteria. Furthermore, by applying a sensitivity analysis, this paper also addresses the robustness of this approach.

The Analysis of Students’ Opinions about the Social Responsibility Of Ukrainian Universities

Aim. The paper is aimed to investigate the students’ opinion about the social responsibility carried out by higher education institutions (HEIs) in Ukraine. Nowadays social responsibility has become one of the key characteristics of modern HEIs. Ukrainian universities are trying to become 'civic universities', i.e., institutions which contribute to the development of the local community. The students, as key stakeholders of the university activities, also take part in this process. Methods. To investigate the social responsibility of the Ukrainian HEIs, the case study method is used in the present paper: the case of Mariupol State University and its social functions within the city are highlighted. The online survey was applied to investigate the level of students’ awareness of the university social functions and the role played by the university in the local community. Materials published by the university and the results of the survey have been analysed to test the hypothesis that students consider Mariupol State University to be a socially responsible university which cooperates with the local community. Results. The students’ opinion on the social functions carried out by Mariupol State University is that this local university has strong ties with the local community and authorities and perform its social mission. However, the social functions of the university, according to the students, are limited by teaching and research activities. Few students consider social responsibility of the university in a wider context. Conclusion. On the example of the MSU the paper shows that modern universities in Ukraine perform social functions and try to become truly civic universities to contribute to the development of the local communities in cooperation with different stakeholders. Nevertheless, students as a key stakeholder of the university activities still consider social responsibility of the university primarily aimed at teaching and research.

Creating Democratic Civic Universities in a Post-COVID-19 World: The IAU and Global Collaboration

This essay is organized around four questions, the answers to which should, in my judgment, be helpful in thinking about universities now and in a post-pandemic world. My goal is to contribute to discussions and actions that result in the creation of democratic civic universities.

Covid-19. Civic Universities, Societal Innovation and the Recovery of Local Communities

Corona virus has had a differential impact on not only various age and ethnic groups but also on different localities. In many of these places, universities have hitherto acted in dual roles as key anchor and as knowledge institutions. During the crisis, many universities have worked with heath service providers, businesses, local authorities and the community and voluntary sector with real pace, skill and scale in a way that has reinforced the trust and confidence of local people in their universities. Whilst the immediate focus has been on the contribution of the medical and life sciences, civically minded universities have also drawn on the social sciences to help public authorities address the challenges of economic and social recovery in a more sustainable and inclusive way. This has required them to put citizens at the heart of placed based societal innovation. Going forward universities and their funders must learn from the good they have done during the health crises and then seek to build a ‘new normal’ based on values rather than on quasi-artificial performance metrics. A values approach would embed a university more strongly within local government structures where it could then benefit from political influence and financial systems. Firms of all sizes and from all places, local and national would then be much more aware of the contribution universities can make to society in the round.