Socially Responsible Higher Education

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Adult education, culture development and social movements: The contemporary challenge
( Society for Participatory Research In Asia (PRIA), 1993-04-27) Tandon, Rajesh
This article by Dr. Rajesh Tandon examines the challenges in adult education amidst the context of global cultural homogenization, social movements, and development, and highlights the importance of cultural identity in social transformation. Dr. Tandon describes the current global scenario as unipolar in nature, with a rise in global media that has led to the homogenization of culture and destruction of indigenous knowledge systems throughout the world, resulting in growing alienation of individuals, families, and communities. In this context, the article describes a craving within people and communities for their historical roots and identities. It also identifies a neglect in social movements since World War II, which focused primarily on economic and political issues instead of cultural dimensions of oppression and addresses the rise of new social movements in the past few decades for closure of this gap. The article concludes by linking the role of education with sustaining cultural identities urging adult educators to bring the issue of culture into development discourse.
Bridging the gap between the researcher and the community: PRIA’s engagements in promoting community based research and social responsibility in higher educational institutions
(Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 2014) Tandon, Rajesh; Singh, Wafa; Srinivasan, Sumitra
PRIA has engaged with academia in a multitude of interventions, bringing community and practitioner knowledge into the portals of traditional research institutions and processes. By doing this, PRIA has helped Higher Educational Institutions (HEls) realize their social responsibility towards a community's needs and aspirations. This document traces PRIA's work in promoting community engagement within HEls in India and beyond. The experience, garnered over three decades, have been classified into six categories to highlight the different forms PRIA's interventions as a facilitator have taken to build bridges between the world of formal research, the practitioner knowledge of civil society actors and the experiential knowledge of local communities. The experiences discussed in this paper are not intended to be comprehensive; a few specific interventions are described under each category to illustrate the nature of the engagements fostered and the practices promoted.
Case study on the role of adult education in community involvement for primary healthcare
(1983-05) Tandon, Rajesh
Civil engagement in higher education and its role in Human & Social Development
(Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 2007-07) Tandon, Rajesh
Over the past century the world has seen many social, economic and political transformations. It has transformed from a largely colonial era to a largely democratic one. Yet, while democratization of political culture guaranteed citizens’ rights and freedom, it did not result in democratization of learning and knowledge production. The change in education systems has been slow in the coming. Economic trends and civil society movements in the past decade have been facilitating changes in perceptions of what constitutes ‘knowledge’ and in redefining the mission and mandate of HEIs. With increasing demands on HEIs to scale up their teaching and research functions, HEIs are facing new challenges of contributing to human and social development. The meaning and agenda of human and social development has also changed over decades, and new civil society actors have been closely associated with this phenomenon. This chapter looks at how the engagement of civil society organizations with the world of higher education has resulted in interesting trends in social policy formation and knowledge production. Illustrated through examples of effective engagement between higher education institutions and social and human development efforts of civil society organisations – PRIA in Asia and The Afrikan Multiversity in Africa – the paper draws lessons from these interventions, highlighting future potentials for HEIs. Exploring alternative sources and modes of learning and knowledge production, the paper provides a vision of the possibilities that engagement with civil society can open up in terms of contribution of HEIs to social and human development in the coming decades.
Commentary on the progress report on the futures of education
(UNESCO Chair, 2020-04-24) Tandon, Rajesh; Hall, Budd L
Community based participatory research & sustainable development goals
(the Canadian Commission for UNESCO’s IdeaLab, 2017) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh
In this report, Dr. Budd Hall and Dr. Rajesh Tandon explore the role of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The authors contend that addressing the social, economic, and environmental challenges within the SDG framework demands knowledge production approaches that go beyond what conventional academic research offers. Higher education institutions, with their considerable intellectual, physical, and digital resources, are seen as well-placed to generate locally relevant and actionable knowledge through socially responsible research. CBPR is discussed as a collaborative and participatory approach that brings together universities, communities, civil society, and policy actors in equitable partnerships, with an emphasis on co-learning, capacity building, and social change. The report also considers how higher education institutions can integrate CBPR into their research work through locally grounded and community-driven methods. It closes with recommendations for universities, policymakers, funding agencies, and civil society organizations on building stronger institutional support for CBPR in the pursuit of the SDGs.
Community engagement in higher education institutions: Status report 2015
(UNESCO Chair, 2015-04) Tandon, Rajesh; Singh, Wafa
Disciplines, professions and the sustainable development goals (SDGs): Challenges in higher education in india
(Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi), 2019) Tandon, Rajesh; Pandey, Pooja
Dr Rajesh Tandon and Pooja Pandey look at how Indian higher education institutions are engaging with the 2030 Agenda. India's scale of poverty, hunger, health and gender gaps makes this urgent, yet SDG integration remains largely absent from national policy and from bodies like AIU and FICCI, even as new UGC guidelines on social responsibility begin to open some space. Institutional examples from forest management education in Bhopal, climate resilience planning in Wayanad, and SDG teaching among engineering students at DTU show faculty-driven innovation that stays ad hoc rather than systemic. Rigid disciplinary and professional education frameworks emerge as the main obstacle to multi-disciplinary SDG work. The paper closes with recommendations for HEI leadership, regulatory councils, and civil society to push SDGs into the core teaching and research functions of Indian institutions.
Fostering social responsibility in higher education in India
(Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 2014) Tandon, Rajesh
This paper explores the importance of integrating social responsibility into higher education in India, emphasising community engagement as a vital function alongside teaching and research. This paper draws on national and international practices, along with recommendations from the Planning Commission's Sub-committee on Strengthening Community Engagement in Higher Education. It looks at where Indian institutions currently stand on this front, what other countries are doing differently, and why engagement tends to stay on the margins instead of becoming central to how institutions function. The paper calls for engagement to be backed institutionally rather than left to individual faculty, for curricula to make room for community-based learning instead of treating it as an afterthought, and for students doing this work to receive academic credit, not just appreciation. The paper's larger point is for universities and colleges to move beyond producing knowledge in isolation and toward actively driving social change and sustainable development in India.
India launch of the UNESCO Chair in community-based research and social responsibility in higher education
(UNESCO Chair, 2012-12) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh
International collaboration for changing the culture of research: The UNESCO Chair in community-based research and social responsibility in higher education
(Autonomie Locali e Servizi Sociali, 2020-04-01) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh
This paper traces the development of the UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, established through the long-standing collaboration of Budd Hall and Rajesh Tandon. It explains how the Chair promotes community-based participatory research by strengthening partnerships between universities, civil society organizations, and local communities across the Global South and the excluded North. This work includes global studies, open-access publications, international networks, and the K4C Consortium. Engaged research also supports the SDGs by fostering knowledge co-creation and socially responsible, locally grounded higher education. The paper argues that transforming research culture demands collaboration, knowledge democracy, and closer academia-community links to tackle social and environmental challenges.
Introduction social responsibility and community based research in higher education institutions
(BRILL, 2021) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh
In this paper, Budd Hall and Rajesh Tandon situate higher education at a crossroads shaped by neoliberalism, the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, and calls for decolonisation. They trace how the 2009 UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education placed social responsibility at the centre of global debate, and how their own UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education grew out of that moment. The authors set out a knowledge democracy framework built on multiple epistemologies, co-constructed knowledge, and open access to research, then turn to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the political, financial, institutional, and knowledge deficits threatening their achievement by 2030. They close by outlining the book's four sections, on universities as civic space, decolonised curricula, engaged teaching, and new understandings of knowledge and the earth, gathering voices deliberately drawn from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the excluded North rather than the global North alone.
Knowledge democracy and diverse epistemologies: Inspired by the book “Socially responsible higher education: International perspectives on knowledge democracy”
(UNESCO Chair, 2021) Tandon, Rajesh; Hall, Budd L
Learning to Do, Learning to Be, Learning to Learn: Education for tomorrow
(2020) Tandon, Rajesh
The text discusses the need for sustainable development in modern civilization, education's role in society's economic, social, and environmental challenges, and education's capacity to foster learning to do, learn to be, and learn to know. It highlights HEIs' importance in co-creating and sharing knowledge and expertise to benefit society. In particular, the article describes the relationship between higher education institutions (universities) and the community as two-way communication where the community is considered a partner in education. Furthermore, the text emphasizes the importance of adopting an approach that promotes quality education (SDG 4), as well as education for sustainable development, human rights, gender equality, global citizenship, culture, and active societies (community engagement). In addition, the text promotes universities that are committed to contributing to society that values individuals and encourages them to lead fulfilling lives and become responsible and ethical agents.
Leave no one behind. Repositioning Higher Education for achieving SDGs
(UNESCO Chair, 2022-11-05) Vargiu, Andrea; Tandon, Rajesh; Kaul, Niharika
Recent global disruptions connected to financial turbulence, pandemic outbreak, and global political instability up for hybrid warfare put the 2030 Agenda's vision at risk. Higher Education (HE) is central to the 2030 Agenda, but its potential hasn't been fully deployed thus far. A stronger role of HE in tackling the world's most pressing issues is therefore necessary. Which requires the repositioning of HE and the reshaping of its principles and practices. By referring to extensive experience on the ground of the Knowledge for Change Consortium members, and a wide range of contributions from the Global South and the excluded North, this policy brief approaches this need by discussing four interrelated themes: 1. HE for the public good 2. Socially inclusive HE 3. Diversity of epistemologies and knowledge systems 4. Contextual responsiveness and place-based learning This policy brief calls on HE leaders and actors to promote transformations within their institutions and HE systems, using the recommendations to critically reflect and act to reposition HE for achieving the 2030 Agenda.
Making the commitment: Contributions of higher education to SDGs
(Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 2017-09) Tandon, Rajesh
In this paper, Dr Rajesh Tandon looks at the role Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) can play in advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. He points out that political support, resources, and institutional capacity all matter, but the sharpest gap is one of knowledge. Hereby, he posits engaged teaching, research, and service as best placed to close it. HEIs, he argues, carry vast physical and intellectual resources, often underused, and can catalyze societal transformation once social responsibility is built into all three core missions across every discipline, not confined to a few departments. The paper works through practical strategies: revising curricula, building community-based research partnerships, and reframing service as mutual empowerment rather than charity. It closes with a call for systemic reform and collaboration among HEIs, government, civil society, and international networks to build an enabling ecosystem. Reimagined this way, HEIs move beyond traditional paradigms to become key drivers of the SDGs, fulfilling higher education's potential as a public good.
Network as an instrument for strengthening adult education movement
(Society for Participatory Research in Asia, 1987-07) Tandon, Rajesh
Dr. Rajesh Tandon examines the concept of ‘network’ in this text as a form of free-flow of information, ideas, and resources to strengthen social transformation movements and analyse its effectiveness in addressing the problems of our times. The report talks about two distinct responses to pressing socio-economic and political problems that have emerged in the last decade: a resource-packed response from governments and inter-governmental institutions, and second, more humble and innovative response from the non-governmental sector, which has been more effective due to its faith in ordinary people, and ‘network’ being part of this response. The report discusses the relevance of networks across six key points. These are providing alternative spaces for identifying issues that dominant institutional frameworks fail to do, elaborating newer ideas and concepts, functioning as a political strategy for dealing with retaliation against grassroots efforts, resisting attempts to narrow democratic spaces, identifying and supporting individuals working for the cause of social transformation, and enabling a rapid, exchange of information, experiences, and visions across cultures. Major characteristics of a network are also discussed in the report along with two possible pitfalls, which are creating networks across donor agencies instead of the issues, and abusing the spontaneity as a license for anarchy. The report ends by presenting a three-phase appraisal of the Participatory Research Network's history starting with the inception phase (1977-1980), the consolidation phase (1980-1985) and finally the diffusion phase (1985 onwards).
Participatory evaluation in adult education
(Society for Participatory Research In Asia, 1994-11) Tandon, Rajesh
This text by Dr. Rajesh Tandon examines the challenges and issues of promoting participatory evaluation in adult education programmes. It critiques the limited concern with evaluation, which has historically been driven primarily by programme managers seeking to define programmes, assess impact, and justify resource use, and by donors facing increasing pressure to demonstrate effective utilization of aid. The text argues that this narrow focus has failed to translate into genuine concern among field educators or learners, who participate in evaluation exercises largely because they are obligated to do so rather than viewing evaluation as an integral part of their work. It identifies some threats to participatory evaluation like devaluing indigenous capacity, imposing narrow timeframes, discouraging openness, questioning, and reflection, particularly at field levels, and not promoting critical reflection and analysis. The paper concludes by stating how promoting participatory evaluation requires a major effort to demystify the concept of evaluation and create favourable conditions to make evaluation an integral part of adult education programme design and implementation.
Partnering with higher education institutions for SDG 17: The role of higher education institutions in multi-stakeholder partnerships
(2018-04) Tandon, Rajesh; Chakrabarti, Kaustuv
Dr Rajesh Tandon and Dr Kaustuv Chakrabarti focus this paper on exploring the role of HEIs in achieving the SDGs and their roles in multi stakeholder partnerships. Given the emphasis of intergovernmental agencies on partnerships including various stakeholders and its growing relevance in solving local development challenges, the second section of the paper provides a historical account of partnerships. The third section concentrates on the lessons of partnerships in the past two decades. Following which the paper presents the findings of a survey conducted by PRIA to understand the nuances of partnerships in present times. The final section analyses the implications for Higher Education Institutions in achieving the SDGs, pointing to the need for HEIs to rebalance power differentials and move beyond a teaching-only mode of engagement with other stakeholders.
Perspectives on community practices: Living and learning in community
(Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani, 2015) Krašovec, Sabina Jelenc; Štefanc, Damijan; Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh; Tremblay, Crystal; Singh, Wafa
This book presents the findings of the 2015 European Society for Research on the Education of Adults conference and brings together a rich collection of research that explores how communities learn, organise, resist and transform across varied contexts. It covers themes such as adult learning and wellbeing, intergenerational spaces of experience, feminist work in public museums, learning cities and regions, community resilience, applied theatre and transformative learning, and the co-construction of knowledge in community–university partnerships. Contributions such as Adult Learning and Wellbeing: Between Body Politics and the Body Politic, Community Building as Forum and Arena, and Challenges in the Co-Construction of Knowledge foreground tensions between policy, participation, power and everyday practice. The strength of this book lies in its plurality. It holds together critical, empirical and practice-based insights, making it an important resource for understanding community learning in complex and changing times.