The Strategy of Social Responsibility at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana …
451
Sustainability needs to be thought of and acted upon as a harmonic compound
of three great systems: the economic, the social, and the environmental. To solve
today’s most pressing development and sustainability challenges, the implemented
UPB strategy has allowed the establishment of synergies between universities and
research institutes and partnerships with the industry, government, and communities,
in order to tackle several national development challenges. These synergies have
enabled a more collaborative work, building trust among all the interested parties, and
therefore, allowing the design of appropriate scalable solutions that could contribute
to the achievement of the SDGs.
With the continuation of the strategy, the UPB has been linked to different
national and international research networks on sustainability, to develop collaborative research and development proposals. One of the networks is ROUTES Toward
Sustainability (2019), in which around 50 universities around the world are involved.
This network has promoted an annual meeting to discuss the impacts of the multiple
ecological, economic, and social footprints, as well as the development of research
proposals for the Horizon 2030. Another important international partnership is LeNS
(2019), the International Network of Networked Learning on Sustainability (2015–
2018), an EU-supported project (ERASMUS+) involving 36 universities in Europe,
Asia, Africa, South and Central America, with the target of promoting a new generation of designers (and design educators) capable of contributing effectively to the
transition toward a more sustainable society for all. This network has worked on the
development of educational strategies for the implementation of sustainability in the
different programs of the university.
The final question that may arise after reading this paper is: can an integrated
internal approach toward the implementation of the SDGs really make a substantive contribution to achieving sustainability inside the university that can impact the
community? As Galpin, Whittington, and Bell explained, having an organizational
infrastructure that promotes a culture of sustainability results in a positive employment and a more structured organizational level of sustainability and performance
(2015). Nevertheless, to achieve the desired results from the university’s sustainability efforts, leaders, in all levels, must continue to encourage a sustainability
practice focused culture that permeates all levels of the university.
Acknowledgements Acknowledgments to the group of UPB Sostenible for sharing strategic documents and reports necessary for the analysis. To PhD. Idi Amin Issac Millán and PhD. Oscar
Vasco for providing important information of the Micro–Network system and the Bio-digester
UPB infrastructure, and to CIDI for the financial support for the research.
The authors would like to thank Enago (www.enago.com) for the English language review.
References
Fontaine M (2013) Corporate social responsibility and sustainability: the new bottom line? Int J
Bus Soci Sc 110–119
451
Sustainability needs to be thought of and acted upon as a harmonic compound
of three great systems: the economic, the social, and the environmental. To solve
today’s most pressing development and sustainability challenges, the implemented
UPB strategy has allowed the establishment of synergies between universities and
research institutes and partnerships with the industry, government, and communities,
in order to tackle several national development challenges. These synergies have
enabled a more collaborative work, building trust among all the interested parties, and
therefore, allowing the design of appropriate scalable solutions that could contribute
to the achievement of the SDGs.
With the continuation of the strategy, the UPB has been linked to different
national and international research networks on sustainability, to develop collaborative research and development proposals. One of the networks is ROUTES Toward
Sustainability (2019), in which around 50 universities around the world are involved.
This network has promoted an annual meeting to discuss the impacts of the multiple
ecological, economic, and social footprints, as well as the development of research
proposals for the Horizon 2030. Another important international partnership is LeNS
(2019), the International Network of Networked Learning on Sustainability (2015–
2018), an EU-supported project (ERASMUS+) involving 36 universities in Europe,
Asia, Africa, South and Central America, with the target of promoting a new generation of designers (and design educators) capable of contributing effectively to the
transition toward a more sustainable society for all. This network has worked on the
development of educational strategies for the implementation of sustainability in the
different programs of the university.
The final question that may arise after reading this paper is: can an integrated
internal approach toward the implementation of the SDGs really make a substantive contribution to achieving sustainability inside the university that can impact the
community? As Galpin, Whittington, and Bell explained, having an organizational
infrastructure that promotes a culture of sustainability results in a positive employment and a more structured organizational level of sustainability and performance
(2015). Nevertheless, to achieve the desired results from the university’s sustainability efforts, leaders, in all levels, must continue to encourage a sustainability
practice focused culture that permeates all levels of the university.
Acknowledgements Acknowledgments to the group of UPB Sostenible for sharing strategic documents and reports necessary for the analysis. To PhD. Idi Amin Issac Millán and PhD. Oscar
Vasco for providing important information of the Micro–Network system and the Bio-digester
UPB infrastructure, and to CIDI for the financial support for the research.
The authors would like to thank Enago (www.enago.com) for the English language review.
References
Fontaine M (2013) Corporate social responsibility and sustainability: the new bottom line? Int J
Bus Soci Sc 110–119