Analyse a University of your choice in terms of its work to demonstrate its commitment to social responsibility. Drawing on this analysis and the evidence from your own experience as a first year undergraduate, provide your recommendations for the University of Manchester in terms of how it might best support you and your peers to make a contribution to society.
This essay will comprise of how the university of Edinburgh one of the most beautiful, historic universities amongst many great universities, is my chosen university of which I will analyse how it demonstrates its commitment to social responsibility, this essay will also include my own experiences as a first-year undergraduate at the Manchester University and how I think the University could help support its students to make a contribution to society.
Social responsibility having many definitions is … ‘Movement aimed at encouraging companies to be more aware of the impact of their business on the rest of society, including their own stakeholders and the environment. (1) Different companies and businesses have their own different ways of showing social responsibility whether it’s being environmentally friendly or even economically friendly or even just genuinely being friendly.
The aim of corporate social responsibility is to make sure companies carry out their business in the most ethical way they can. This involves taking into account their economic, social and environmental impact as well as human rights. This can be done in a number of ways such as:
– Working together with local communities.
– Developing relationships with employees and customers.
– Environmental sustainability and protection. (1)
£60 million is not a joke! The University of Edinburgh has given this huge sum of its investment into businesses that directly benefit the environment. By doing this they are demonstrating their commitments towards being socially responsible. This £60m was invested into two funds, the first being towards companies that try to manage a range of sustainability issues like the need for low CO2 infrastructure which is it also involves supporting companies that address challenges such as sourcing sustainable water, energy and food.
The second funds going towards renewable technology, supporting global transition to low C02 and renewable energy. This all is part of their climate strategy to be zero carbon by 2040. The director of Social responsibility and sustainability Dave Gorman said “This substantial investment will deliver an impact for society. It will support new and established technologies and enable the creation of jobs in new industries.’’(2) This creation of new jobs is great because it reduces unemployment and it reduces crime and also boosts the economy in a number of ways, this shows that the company is being considerably responsible for societies.
Adding on the university of Edinburgh as Scotland’s first Fairtrade university it has been promoting better conditions for communities and for farmers in developing countries since the year 2004 and also the university has provided shuttle busses between sites at the Kings Buildings, Western General Hospital, Little France and Central area for which these are the main sites in the City of Edinburgh. This as a result led to the majority of staff and students choosing to leave cars at home and as a better alternative use public transport, cycle or even walk. Last but not least the Universities retail catering outlets are endorsed with the Food for Life mark, due to being approved by the social association this food for life scheme has free from controversial additives and is a lot better for the wellbeing of animals. (5)
The University has also shown their concern towards social responsibility by being committed to enhancing biodiversity the year beginning 2012 as well as promoting it on their grounds this includes supporting the biodiversity in the local neighbourhoods and enhancing the wellbeing and health of student’s visitors staff as well as the wider community.
Last but not least a modern slavery statement by the university outlines their commitment to protecting and respecting human rights and having zero tolerance towards slavery or abusive behaviour of any form or shape ( ‘This statement is made pursuant to section 54, Part 6 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015’)(6) This shows a reflection of protection towards not only their students but the community also by trying to exclude unacceptable behaviours such as violent behaviours and any types of bullying, and giving people the freedom to their rights a human beings, this would result in students and the community feeling safer and happier creating a more friendly atmosphere.
As a first-year undergraduate student I speak on behalf of my experience at the University of Manchester, the museum located by the university shows social responsibility because ‘’museums are often viewed as institutions that can bring people together, promote social activism and develop programs aimed towards creating positive changes within communities.’’ Adding on the museum is a free entry museum open to both students and the community. This is the social in social responsibilities written in bold. (3)
The following are some figures that stand as evidence for the impact being made by the university. Through its charity work the university of Manchester’s students raise £500 thousand each year, 1,252 students volunteering made a massive difference to the local community, ‘1,245,236 public visitors to our cultural institutions (Manchester Museum, The Whitworth, John Ryland’s Library, Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre).’ Also 23,1000 jobs are supported directly and indirectly by the universities activities, 1000 school and college students are able to access the universities library facilities each year.’(4)
As a recommendation, I think that the University of Manchester could facilitate a hospital solely with the purpose of serving students however the community could also benefit from the same institution. The university could create different opportunities for students to work in ways that serve the community for example cutting grass, cleaning streets or even day care centres, also as part of community outreach the university can come up with programs for students to gain experience through voluntary work e.g. Cleaning for the elderly, looking after the disabled or even cleaning bus stations and train stations.
As part of the Universities Social Responsibility initiative the Sustainability challenge carried out each year at the beginning of a semester could be Improved I believe in a number of ways.
Firstly I think that instead of the challenge being a 2.5 hour simulation activity based on just building a new campus for a made up ‘University of Mill Chester’ The university could also use this challenge to contribute some kind of help towards the homeless as there’s not a day goes by that homeless people are seen lingering around one of Manchester’s well known roads The Oxford Road, I think that students from different departments could work together towards a project that benefits the homeless for example the architecture students could design a centre where the homeless could be attended to, the business and finance students could work out how to accommodate the necessary budgets required for this project to be a success. Not only does this give the different students from different back grounds and different departments a chance to make new friends, this would also contribute to the universities variety of ways in which it shows concern towards social responsibility and in turn, not only will it give the University a prestige title but as mentioned previously in this essay the customers (students) are more likely to choose the option which is seen as more ethical and also this is a chance for the university to make greater profits.
Adding on, I think that the University could work together with social enterprises, (businesses aiming to make the world a better place by dealing with social problems or improving communities and people’s lives) I believe that social enterprises give students and graduates the opportunity to elaborate enterprise skills which are useful in all types of businesses, it allows universities to connect with and offer help to local businesses and work closely with the community.
To conclude, there are various ways in which the University of Manchester could better itself in terms of being more socially responsible but for me personally, I would recommend an international day whereby students gather into groups of societies small or large ( UoM is very much Diverse, the University is filled with hundreds of students from all over the world) and bring their cultures onto Oxford Road with their varieties of food, and music and talents, this international day would be open to the public and the money raised would go towards charities and work that helps the homeless, also any food left over would not be thrown away but put to use and distributed all over Manchester to those that cannot afford what we may take for granted. This international day in return would bring the students and the community closer together through the sharing of cultures.
Social Responsibility is great because evidence of a good social responsibility policy can have a massive impact on how customers choose their decisions because customers the majority of the time seek to make an ethical choice. This, would lead to an advantage towards the business being increased profits. Apart from benefitting the business financially it helps with brand differentiation for example a company that is ‘fair trade’ will stand out from the rest, it also benefits with customer engagement and employee engagement resulting in a better company overall.
References:
1) Lexicon.ft.com. (2017). Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Definition from Financial Times Lexicon. [online] Available at: http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=corporate-social-responsibility–(CSR) [Accessed 9th Dec. 2017].
1) The University of Edinburgh. (2017). What is corporate social responsibility?. [online] Available at: https://www.ed.ac.uk/careers/your-future/options/occupations/csr/what-is-csr [Accessed 7th Dec. 2017].
2)
(2017) Multi million investment backs sustainable low carbon companies. Available at: https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2017/multi-million-investment-backs-sustainable-low-car (Accessed 28th october 2017)
3) Sirhall, E. (2015). Museum Activism and Social Responsibility: Building Museum Education Programs for Juvenile Offenders. Master of Arts in Museum Professions. Seton Hall University.[online] Available at: http://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3142&context=dissertations (Accessed 28th October 2017)
4) The University of Manchester. (2017). Social Responsibility. [online] Available at: http://www.socialresponsibility.manchester.ac.uk/about/impact/ [Accessed 10 Dec. 2017].
5) The University of Edinburgh. (2017). Social responsibility and sustainability. [online] Available at: https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/edinburgh/sustainability [Accessed 8th Dec. 2017].
6) The university of Edinburgh. (2017) Modern Slavery Act .[online] Available at : https://www.ed.ac.uk/about/sustainability/about/programmes/fairness-trade-sustainable-procurement/modern-slavery/statement [Accessed 7th Dec.2017].