CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS (THE EXAMPLE OF CATHOLIC UNIVERSITIES)

Sa？etak Neither universities can remain immune to the social changes in the global world nor can the academic community be oriented only to their actions and their survival, founding their existence only in education, scientific and research work. It is expected from universities today to open to the society and community in which they exist and work and to contribute to that society. Corporate social responsibility (CRS) as a concept represents the willingness of a business entity to voluntarily align business with the needs of society in the widest possible sense, without being bound/forced to that by the law. The universities contribute to the communities, in which they exist in different ways: by providing scholarships for students from low-income families, rectors’ award for excellence, scholarship for the students from other poor countries who will return to their countries after graduating and support its development, by volunteering support, working for organization free of charge, participating in programs for refugees, programs for elder, language courses, sports activities and etc. The main goal of this paper /research is to compare how various Catholic universities in the world relate to social responsibility and how they implement and communicate it. The methods used for this research were the survey method as well as the content analysis of the web sites of twelve Catholic universities. The results presented in this paper could be used for creating and designing a future corporate social responsibility strategy for higher education institutions