Page 8 - UNNAT BHARAT ABHIYAN

Fostering Social Responsibility & Community Engagement in Higher Education Institutions in India 7

a) Educating the SDG Generation needed to make the SDGs a reality, with the necessary
knowledge, skills, competencies and partnerships, thereby helping to produce new
SDG leaders;
b) Conducting transversal reviews and refinements of curricula to ensure the mainstreaming
of SDG issues across curricula, and including new values and practices for economic
development that enhance social equity while reducing environmental risk.”

1.2 Community Engagement in India

In 2011, a national review was conducted by a Committee of Experts (set up by the then
Planning Commission) to analyse the purposes, principles and forms of social responsibility
and community engagement which are relevant to our context. Its recommendations to
MHRD about “fostering social responsibility and community engagement of HEIs” in
India contain several important elements for the new policy. 5

The goals of ‘fostering social responsibility and community engagement in HEIs” can
comprise of

• Improving the quality of teaching/learning in HEIs, by bridging the gap between
theory and practice through community engagement;

• Promoting deeper interactions between higher educational institutions and local
communities for identification and solution of real-life problems faced by the
communities in a spirit of mutual benefit;

• Facilitating partnerships between local communities and institutions of higher
education so that students and teachers can learn from local knowledge and wisdom;

• Engaging higher institutions with local communities in order to make curriculum,
courses and pedagogies more appropriate to achieving the goals of national
development;

• Catalysing acquisition of values of public service and active citizenship amongst
students and youth alike, which would also encourage, nurture and harness the natural
idealism of youth;

• Undertaking research projects in partnership with local community through
community-based research methods
1.3 Key Principles for Community Engagement

In light of the global and national approaches currently prevalent, the following key
principles shall guide community engagement of HEIs:

a) Mutual learning and respect: Mutually agreed interests and needs of both rural
communities and HEIs should be articulated and respected. Without ensuring mutual
benefit, community engagement does not serve the purpose of social responsibility
of HEIs. While community learns from students and faculty engaging with them,
students and teachers should also learn from community knowledge and experiences

5 https://www.pria.org/uploaded_files/article_category/1531475111_Fostering_Social_Responsibility.pdf