The University of Manchester is one of only two UK universities to be a member of the University Social Responsibility Network (USRN). The USRN, established in 2015, is a global alliance comprised of 19 universities unified by one mission: to steer global discussion and advocacy for broader social responsibility in the higher education. Member universities of the USRN believe that universities have an obligation to work together to find solutions to address economic, social and environmental challenges facing the world today, making the world more just, inclusive, peaceful and sustainable.

Back in February 2021, the USRN launched its Global University Social Responsibility MOOC: “Introduction to University Social Responsibility” at the University Social Responsibility Network Summit. The Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) allows users to learn about the general framework of university social responsibility as well as understand effective practices to design, plan, implement and evaluate their own activities. In doing so, the course contributes to the expansion and consolidation of the university social responsibility movement.

Our University is one of the seven international universities to contribute towards the MOOC, alongside The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Kyoto University; Simon Fraser University; The University of Pretoria; Universidade de São Paulo and Tufts University.

Introduction to University Social Responsibility has now relaunched on edX in a self-paced format until 31 March 2022.

It is a four week course, with several learning outcomes:

• Understand what university social responsibility (USR) means, develop an overall framework for action

• Understand broad implications of the concept of USR

• Observe how USR is materialized in a wide range of activities and social engagement depending on individual universities’ priorities and contexts

• Learn to design, plan, implement and evaluate USR activities

• Learn about key challenges in designing and implementing USR activities

• Learn from good practices from member universities in the USR Network

• Learn about networking opportunities and cooperative projects that foster USR

• For the detailed course introduction, an overview of the syllabus and to enrol, please visit the course page on edX.