Main Theme of Conference:
UNIVERSITY SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: PATHWAYS TO EXCELLENCE
Sub-themes:
1. USR: academic endeavors and excellence
Papers are invited on various academic activities leading to recognition of distinction either in specific field of research or innovative and creative teaching in or towards USR. Such activities may involve students, other staff as well as industries. Such things as Team Teaching for example with industry partners or consultants normally lead to meeting both students’ and industries’ expectations. These are necessary ingredients towards quality and excellence.
2. USR: IR responses and responsibilities
Many challenges face academia due to rapid technological as well as social development around the world. The so called Net Genners to describe those who were born after 1980, have specific learning characteristics that in a sense force universities and academia as a whole to change. Such changes are seen to be on two levels, namely, overall university policy making inclusive of USR, as well as on the micro level at the face-to-face interactions between the academics and their students and contributions to society. Experiences and theoretical explorations on such aspects would be of great benefits to IR practitioners.
3. USR: Educational and Technological advances and applications
The usefulness of any technology is in its applications even for the technology applications in USR. There is still insufficient research and investigations being done in such applications in education or as related to USR. It would seem that the major obstacle is not the technology but human resistance towards such applications in education. Any investigation in these areas would be welcomed in furthering IR’s own endeavour to ensure relevance to the continually changing society and contributing to the societal benefits.
4. USR: Institutional Capacities and Capabilities
In pursuing USR, we must not overlook the need for institutional capabilities and capacities. After all without these nothing relevant could be achieved. Papers are welcomed on the relationship between capacities and USR as well as between capabilities and USR, where capacity is defined as the available knowledge and practical resources within the organization while capability is defined as the ability, skill and aptitude to deliver USR. It is possible that a university may have the former but not the later or vice-versa. Experience on and suggestions in such areas would assist IR practitioners and university management develop mechanisms and methodologies that will lead them to excellence.
5. USR: Quality Tenacity and Tenets
Universities around the world now have Visions, Missions and Goals like their commercial counterparts, in order to guide them, in order to be and remain competitive and so on. Many would also have “Values” or tenets that are meant to safeguard their integrity as proponents of the truth. Some work had been done by some universities on whether the published values, mission, vision and goals are indeed being done or are they simply ornaments in universities’ publications. There are numerous challenges to implementing and maintaining those tenets. In order to do so, extensive resolve, persistence, determination and drive are required. However, those tenets are precisely the guides that allow universities to carry out their social responsibilities. Papers on such experiences especially on quality or its aspirations of the USR would fall under this sub-theme.
6. USR: New, creative, innovative and esoteric initiatives
New concepts normally bring with them new, creative, innovative and even esoteric initiatives that had not existed or even contemplated before. Papers that do not fall neatly into the previous five sub-themes may be classified under this sub-theme. The exciting prospect of discovering something new through these perhaps untested ideas is ‘roads that are less or even never travelled’. It is often that these less-travelled ideas lead to distinction and excellence. Intending authors are invited to submit such papers to this conference.
For more information on submission of papers, please visit the website at the link below, or email seaair11(at)gmail.com.
