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.
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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
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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.
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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
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12208-015-0144-5