Central to the new discourses on social responsibility of higher education institutions is the recognition, appreciation and valuing of diversity of knowledges, their underlying epistemologies and knowledge cultures.

Historically, the higher education community has defined academic knowledge as the only valid, scientific knowledge. Acknowledgement of multiple sites and forms of knowledge is now beginning to be recognized. Each society has its own diverse meanings and concepts related to knowledge, its purposes and praxis. Higher education can act socially responsibly by integrating and co-producing multiple forms of knowledge through respect for diverse epistemologies. 

These issues are explored in the book Socially Responsible Higher Education – International Perspectives on Knowledge Democracy. The collection offers original concepts, ideas and case studies to support universities and develop the capacities of the new generation of researchers. The book is edited by the UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility, co-chaired by Budd Hall of the University of Victoria, in Canada, and Rajesh Tandon of PRIA, in India.

This event was a joint initiative by the Centre for Research and Development in Adult and Lifelong Learning (University of Glasgow) and the Low and Middle Income Countries Research Network.

Speakers

• Michael Osborne, Professor of Adult and Lifelong Learning and Director of the Centre for Research and Development in Adult and Lifelong Learning, University of Glasgow.
• Rajesh Tandon, Founding President of Participatory Research in Asia and Co-Chair of the UNESCO Chair in Community-based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education from Delhi, India.
• Sebastián Fuentes, Researcher, National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), and the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), Argentina. 
• Catherine Odora-Hoppers, Professor in Development Education at Gulu University, Uganda.
• Nabiela Naily, Lecturer at Faculty of Sharia and Law in UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Indonesia. 
• Budd Hall, Professor Emeritus, School of Public Administration and Co-Chair of the UNESCO Chair in Community-based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education from the University of Victoria, Canada.

Discussant:

• Hilligje van’t Land – Secretary General, International Association of Universities (IAU) & Executive Director, International Universities Bureau.

This event took place on Monday 11 October, 2021.