President of Católica urges Universities to educate to reinvent the future

"Universities and Social Responsibility" was under debate at the international conference "University as an epicentre for social responsibility: commitment to people and the planet", organised as part of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of CAtólica SOlidária (CASO), the volunteer nucleus of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) in Porto, from 19 to 20 June.

At the Plenary Conference, Isabel Capeloa Gil, President of the Universidade Católica and of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, urged universities to educate to reinvent the future.

"Stimulating and intensifying the dialogue between the university and the community and the crucial role of people in establishing the relationships of trust and commitment that such dialogue implies" are, for Célia Manaia, vice-president of Católica in Porto and president of the conference's Scientific Committee, the key ideas that guided the two days of the conference and serve as a motto for the future.

Organised by a transdisciplinary team, which brought together in its scientific committee members from all faculties of the Catholic University of Porto, the conference brought together teachers and researchers, national and foreign, and also community partners in areas such as social, health, education, local government and business. All were invited to actively participate in the reflection and knowledge sharing for the construction of a future vision of the interaction between the university and its surroundings and the positive impacts that it can aspire.

 

Community and University

 

After the opening session, held by Isabel Braga da Cruz, pro-rector of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Fernando Paulo, councillor for Education and Social Cohesion of the Porto City Council, and Peter Hanenberg, vice-rector of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, François Vallayes, professor and researcher at the Universidad del Pacífico (Peru), and Julian Skyrme, director of Social Responsibility at the University of Manchester (UK), shared their views on the subject. While the first expert stressed the importance of having the capacity to question the system and courage, the second reminded that the university needs to look at itself and assess the areas in which it can serve and not only those in which it can excel.

This was followed by a participatory workshop that brought together people from different sectors of the local and global community (public bodies, non-profit organisations, companies), through which we reflected and dreamed about the possible roles that universities can - and should - have as epicentres of social responsibility. The final product was, through an exercise of imagination, for each group to design the cover of a magazine with the breaking news of a brilliant initiative that unites the community and the University.

 

Learning with and from the community

 

The second day began with the lecture by Robert Bringle, Chancellor's Professor at Indiana University, USA, "The Promises and Challenges of Social Responsibility in Higher Education", who recalled that despite being centres of knowledge generation, universities increasingly need to learn with and from the community.

This was followed by the presentation of practical cases and service-learning projects by researchers and people in charge of national and foreign social responsibility offices. Among the case studies, we highlight the presentation of the CASO impact study "Bridging the gap between academia and community: The perceived impacts of participation in volunteering practices on students and alumni", by Diana Soares and Amanda Franco, teachers of the Faculty of Education and Psychology and members of the Católica Porto Innovation Lab team.

The morning ended with the theme "The role of universities in transforming society through its social responsibility agenda", in the lecture given by Enase Okomedo, vice-chancellor of Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria, who used the example of his university to emphasize the idea that universities should not be places to prepare professional careers, but rather to train leaders who take social responsibility as a personal issue.

 

Reinventing the future

 

The conference ended with two round tables, the first one "Academy or bootcamp? Information, education, and global challenges" with speakers from education and social organisations and the second "Beyond ivory towers: how can universities and businesses converge and collaborate?" with participants from academia - research, innovation and companies.

Both intended to dream the University of the future, its characteristics and challenges, what needs to be changed and how one can start so that they can effectively be epicentres of university social responsibility.