Universities can be civic actors and agents of social justice

For example, King’s College London, in its 2019 Strategic Vision, puts service/social responsibility on a par with education and research as a fundamental mission of the institution. Other examples include the University of the Arts London that committed in its ten year plan to embed social purpose in everything it does; the University of Manchester that made social responsibility one of its three strategic goals; and the University of Bristol that made being a global civic university one of its pillars alongside education and research. That social responsibility/social purpose is increasingly being seen as a third pillar by universities – as something universities do for its own sake not just in relation to its educational and research missions – opens up a broader understanding of universities as civic actors and agents of social justice.

Traditionally universities have been viewed as engines of social justice through the opportunities they afford for social mobility. This remains a central way in which universities demonstrate their commitment to social justice – through widening participation programmes and through their endeavours to reach communities with low participation in higher education. However, the social justice work of universities is limited by the fact that only  just over a third of school leavers go on to university with those not going disproportionately coming from disadvantaged communities. While this figure rises to around 50 per cent for people going to university before the age of 30, this still means that only half of young people benefit from the opportunities for social mobility afforded by a university education.

Of course the social impact of universities is not limited to who gets the opportunity to attend; there are also the multiple benefits accruing to society from research and innovation as well as the critical resources to challenge structures of injustice and domination. Both of these figure centrally in recent articulations of the social responsibility/social purpose mission of universities but both are educational or research functions of the university with a civic application. The opportunity opened up by introducing the “third pillar” of social purpose is that universities could engage in social justice work independently and for its own sake and not just through the lens of education or research thereby benefiting a much broader cross-section of society. It enables universities to be agents of social justice much more directly and not restricted to the participation or the benefits to society of education and research.

This is what marks out the civic agency of our university partners. Citizens UK is an alliance of civil society organisations working together for the common good. It is a membership organisation comprising educational institutions, faith communities, trade unions, health organisations and third sector institutions. We are structured in terms of 19 local chapters across the country and we support people, through their institutions, to find common purpose and win change. There are now over 30 universities in membership, many of which are deeply embedded in the life of their local chapters. Membership of a local civic alliance enables universities to engage in social justice work with their local community thereby capitalising on the opportunity to rethink their civic role and purpose. In recent years universities have been central to successful campaigns to challenge hate crime and racism in their communities, they’ve led campaigns to tackle low pay; they have worked with other civil society organisations to improve the mental health and wellbeing of their communities; and they’ve been central to campaigns for justice for migrant communities.

What is different and distinctive about these examples is that they show universities engaging in social justice work for its own sake, not as a dividend or impact of its educational or research strategy. As more and more universities reinterpret their missions in this light the hope is that many more universities will engage in social justice work directly and not just through its educational and research functions.

Citizens UK Higher Education Conference: Universities as Civic Actors & Agents of Social Justice is on Wednesday 5 June at Newcastle University. Find out more and register here.