Communication of Socially-Responsible Activities by Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Higher education institutions play a fundamental role in the scientific, economic, social, and cultural development of each and every society. In view of new challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of their social responsibility and ability to effectively communicate the socially–responsible activities which are performed is growing. The aim of this article is to analyze and evaluate the scope and structure of socially-responsible activities communicated on the websites of public higher education institutions operating in a small post-communist country where education plays a traditional role—the Czech Republic, and to formulate recommendations for improvement of the level of communication of social responsibility by higher education institutions. Primary data was obtained using latent analysis of the content of the websites of all public higher education institutions operating in the Czech Republic. The CE3SPA method was applied. The survey which was performed shows that the level of communication of social responsibility by higher education institutions in the Czech Republic is low. Activities in the field of economic and social responsibility are communicated in the greatest scope. On the contrary, activities in the field of environmental responsibility are communicated the least. Public higher education institutions in the Czech Republic should therefore apply the measures proposed in the article, these also being transferrable to practice in other countries.

EU27 Higher Education Institutions and COVID-19, Year 2020

“…The focus of most articles is distance learning or the change from face-to-face to distance learning. There are several perspectives, like mobile learning methodology [34] and gamification [35], for a specific subject [36,37]; for a specific group of students, such as international mobility students [38] or first-year students [39]; concerned with the quality of educational process on online platforms [40], the level of communication of social responsibility by higher education institutions [41] or technical conditions of distance learning [42]; adaptation of the learning process [43], concern about connecting to the digital world [44][45][46]; the influence of some factors on students' acceptance of shifting education to distance learning [47], Evaluation of the Emotional and Cognitive Regulation [48], comparison of face-to-face classes with distance learning [49] by the student's perspective [50,51], teacher's perspective [43,52], organization [53], or various actors [54].…”

“…One of the studies uses three surveys: at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the semester [35], while another compares student surveys in the semester prior to the pandemic with the surveys of students who participated in the course during the pandemic [49]. Only two papers do not have surveys: one acquires information through the content of the websites of public institutions of higher education [41], while the other monitors students and their digital footprint [51].…”

“…The level of social responsibility communication by higher education institutions in the Czech Republic is low [41]. The sampled HEI have adequate infrastructure to continue to teach during the lockdowns [37].…”

The Sharing Economy in the Context of Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility: The Example of the Czech Republic

“…The attention of the authors is devoted to the greatest extent to the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) [52]. However, modification of the concept of CSR also led to the creation of concepts such as MSR (municipal social responsibility) [53,54] or USR (university social responsibility) [55][56][57].…”

“…Socially responsible behavior can be applied in the abovementioned areas through a variety of activities [63,64]. Sharing can be considered to be a rapidly growing activity that is gaining importance worldwide.…”