Social responsibility of universities in the face of the Coronavirus crisis (COVID-19)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Ali Jahangiri 1
shahla heydarbeygi 2
Sepideh Vafayi 2
1 IMPS.
2 IMPS
10.52547/irphe.28.3.217
Abstract
The spread and continuation of the Corona virus has faced the people and the government with hard and terrible days. During this period, irreparable damages and losses were imposed on the country. In this regard, universities, as a scientific and popular institution, play a leading, guiding, informing and facilitating role in the occurrence of crises alongside governments, and they perform their duties in the form of social responsibility. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the social responsibility of universities in times of crisis, especially the Corona crisis in order to explain the dimensions of social responsibility, indicators and measures, and examine and analyze sample' activities selected from Iranian universities. A qualitative method was chosen for the present exploratory research. The data collection tool in the present study was library studies, reviewing the websites of universities. In order to validate and reduce the data, two steps were used from the perspective of 15 faculty members and expert, and  data on 15 universities. The findings showed that each of the universities had different functions in terms of the dimensions and elements of social responsibility, and knowing these dimensions and comparing the functions of each of them can open the way for the basic actions and orientations of the universities.   The dimensions comprised: educational dimension (including student activities, communication activities and educational activities), cognitive dimension (including innovative plans in the production of products suitable for the Corona crisis, research activities and the production of science and knowledge enhancement) the legal dimension (including the establishment of laws appropriate to the conditions of the Covid-19 crisis), the humanitarian dimension (including the support of the affected groups and cooperation with other centers in the fight against Covid-19), the ethical dimension (including the provision of information and attention to the beneficiaries) and the informing dimension (including raising awareness and providing information in the field of prevention, control and management of the Corona virus.
 

Keywords

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  • Receive Date 14 November 2020
  • Accept Date 14 September 2021
  • Publish Date 11 December 2022