Socially Responsible Higher Education: International Perspectives on Knowledge Democracy

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Is the university contributing to our global crises or does it offer stories of hope? Much recent debate about higher education has focussed upon rankings, quality, financing and student mobility. The COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, the calls for decolonisation, the persistence of gender violence, the rise of authoritarian nationalism, and the challenge of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have taken on new urgency and given rise to larger questions about the social relevance of higher education. In this new era of uncertainty, and perhaps opportunity, higher education institutions can play a vital role in a great transition or civilisational shift to a newly imagined world.

Socially Responsible Higher Education: International Perspectives on Knowledge Democracy shares the experiences of a broadly representative and globally dispersed set of writers on higher education and social responsibility, broadening perspectives on the democratisation of knowledge. The editors have deliberately sought examples and viewpoints from parts of the world that are seldom heard in the international literature. Importantly, they have intentionally chosen to achieve a gender and diversity balance among the contributors. The stories in this book call us to take back the right to imagine, and ’reclaim’ the public purposes of higher education.

Budd Hall is Professor Emeritus with the School of Public Administration, University of Victoria, Canada, and Co-Chair of the UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education.

Rajesh Tandon is Founder-President, Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a global participatory research and training organisation based in New Delhi, India and Co-Chair of the UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education.