LAUSR

The emphasis on the social responsibility of higher education institutions emerged more systematically in the Post-Bologna European context. This paper presents an overview of an ERAMUS + Strategic Partnerships Project on certificate university social responsibility auditing, currently underway in three very different European universities. The overall goal of the Project is to develop auditor training for students based on experiential learning, that is coherent and replicable in diverse contexts and that involves a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders. The project is based on a set of Benchmark Standards for University Social Responsibility developed in the context of an earlier ERASMUS Lifelong Learning project. These Sandards cover four main areas, namely (1) Research, Teaching, Support for Learning and Public Engagement, (2) Governance (3) Environmental and Societal Sustainability; and (4) Fair Practices. In this paper, we will report on the initial data generated by the Project, in respect of student recruitment, baseline attitudes and the impact of participation in the training and the first audit.