“University social responsibility practices as an smart initiative” (case Ibague University)

Nowadays society is facing social, economic and environmental problems. Most of these problems are the result of years of development promoted by no sustainable business initiatives. This scenario poses big challenge for all social institutions no matter its nature. 

Universities as educational institutions with social sense have lot of potential for being smart initiatives developers; they might promote social sustainability programs and usage of environmental friendly technologies. This behavior would constitute a smart business initiative from educational perspective and university social responsibility approach. 

The document aims to research and analyze the current smart university initiatives carried out by Ibague University located in Colombia, and characterize its social responsibility model. This includes its university social responsibility policies, plans and actions. The paper also aims to determine if smart university actions and generated impacts results from structured projects or isolated initiatives In order to measure Ibague University social responsibility initiatives, the methodology includes a diagnosis for the stage of development of USR policies in the university. The diagnosis was held by applying interviews to administrative and academic staff as well as surveys for students, subsequently, a model characterization of programs and plans is made and finally an assessment of remarkable impact actions. Finally, the document seeks to show that in order to enhance the impact that educational institutions can have on society, it is necessary to implement a structured University Social Responsibility model which will constitute a smart business initiative, becoming a reference model which may be implemented or used as guidance for other educational institutions.

Keywords:  Smart Initiatives, Social sustainability, University Social Responsibility, Structured model, Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility, reference model.

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№2 - 2020 Special Issue

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Cesar Augusto Díaz Moya