Page 6 - UNNAT BHARAT ABHIYAN

Fostering Social Responsibility & Community Engagement in Higher Education Institutions in India 5

1. Introduction

This document emerged from UGC’s long-standing commitment to strengthen social
responsibility and community engagement of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)
in India. An earlier policy of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD),
Government of India (2012) had been developed into a Scheme to promote stronger
community engagement amongst HEIs in the country.

Unnat Bharat Ahiyaan (UBA) 2.0 was launched by the Ministry of Human Resource
Development (MHRD), UBA 2.0 aims to bring a trans formative change in rural
development by the active participation of higher education institutes with rural
communities and reorientation of communities through research and development. It
was launched by the Government of India in February 2018. The University Grants
Commission (UGC) set up a Subject Expert Group (SEG) on Curricular Reforms and
Educational Institutions Social Responsibility for achieving the objectives of UBA 2.0 in
June 2018 (Members of SEG Annexure – I)

“The Subject Expert Group (SEG) on Curricular Reforms and Educational Institutions Social
Responsibility will basically work on the reforms in the curriculum at the level of UG and
PG to instil the concept of Rural Community Engagement and Social Responsibility. The
endeavour will be to ensure that community engagement is not seen as a standalone activity
and is integrated in the regular curriculum of the university to ensure the development of
the society around the university.”

This document provides the National Curricular Framework and Guidelines for
“Fostering Social Responsibility and Community Engagement” of HEIs in India. It has
been developed by the Expert Group through a series of consultations over this period.
To achieve the objectives of socio-economic development of New India, HEIs can play an
important role through active community engagement. This approach will also contribute
to improvements in quality of both teaching and research in HEIs in India. As a growing
and large sector in the country, HEIs need to foster social responsibility and community
in their vision and mission itself. It is also important that institutional mechanisms
are developed to adopt a holistic and functional approach to community engagement,
encompassing all the three functions of HEIs—teaching, research and service.

1.1 Global Context

Around the world, HEIs are being encouraged to foster social responsibility and
community engagement in their teaching and research activities over the past decade.

The declaration from the second UNESCO Conference on Higher Education
held in Paris in July 2009 stated explicitly that, ‘Higher education has the social
responsibility to advance our understanding of multifaceted issues...and our ability
to respond to them... Through its core missions of teaching, research and service,
it should lead society in generating global knowledge to address global challenges,
inter alia, food security, climate change, water management, intercultural dialogue,
renewable energy and public health.’ 1

1 https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000189242