Crossviews on Catholic University Social Responsibility

CIRAD-FIUC has prepared a report that falls within the framework of its project on social responsibility of universities (USR) with a view to feeding the debates of the IFCU General Assembly (Ireland, July 2018), which deals with this same theme on this occasion.

The report begins with a brief presentation of the project, including its genesis and rationale, followed by an overview of the university rankings that exist today in terms of social responsibility and/or sustainable development.

A simplified version of the provisional reference framework that was developed together with a collaborating agency specialized in the field, during the first phase of the USR project, is also included. This framework will be revised and readjusted after its application by a dozen participating universities around the world, and a self-evaluation guide will accompany it so that all IFCU universities can apply it autonomously later on.

The report also contains a review of the existing literature in the field of USR, which includes work done in different regions of the world, especially in Europe, North America and Latin America.

Finally, several members of the International Committee created especially to guarantee the smooth running of the URS project wished to share their experience with the participants of the IFUC General Assembly. Each of them prepared a brief contribution on some of the aspects related to URS from their own experience. The report includes texts from all the continents, prodiving thus an overall vision that takes into account the different geographical and cultural specificities characterizing IFCU membership.