From the Editor Dear E-mentor readers, We are thrilled to observe that our efforts to publish E-mentor journal in English has met such a great interest. That is the fourth edition of the jour- nal prepared and published within the scope of a grant funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education. We do hope to be able to continue the project of issuing the international version of E-mentor in the following years as it has proved to be a success. In the current edition, one may distinguish two main directions of consid- eration. The first one refers to the role of information and communication technologies both in education and in business. The latter reflects the chal- lenges that the logistics industry faces nowadays due to the ‘disruptive’ role of IT. Sensors, robots, automation, cloud computing, data analysis, 3D print- ing, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, digital twins or blockchain technology are the examples of disruption mentioned by the author of the paper. Concerning the university, IT appears in the context of adaptive learning and its advantages analyzed by the team of the authors from the University of Central Florida and the Colorado Technical University, with Professor Charles Dziuban as a leader. IT is also present in the papers concerning foreign language learning by the use of videoconferences, instant messaging apps, and international collaboration tools. The concept of professional development through the online course is another example of using IT for academic purposes. Last but not least, is the proposal of an app aimed at eliminating the accessibility barriers, in this case – in Art education. The second direction of considerations in this edition is university education in general; starting from the strategy of the university in the context of its social responsibility, through the analysis of choices of the university candidates to the concept of the University of Third Age. We do hope that you will find these papers an exciting reading. In 2019 we plan to continue issuing E-mentor journal in English. Researchers and teachers from HE in- stitutions interested in publishing with E-mentor may refer to the brief guide for authors presented on the last but one page of the journal. More detailed instructions and the submission form one can find online at http://www.e-mentor.edu.pl/eng/page/8/Info_for_Authors. Maria Zając Editor „Zwiększenie liczby artykułów w języku angielskim pub- likowanych w czasopiśmie E-mentor” – zadanie finanso- wane w ramach umowy nr 748/P-DUN/2017 ze środków Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego przeznaczonych na działalność upowszechniającą naukę. “Increasing the number of articles published in English in the E-mentor journal” – a task financed under the agree- ment No. 748/P-DUN/2017 from the funds of the Minister of Science and Higher Education in Poland designated for the dissemination of research and science achievements. e-mentor nr 5 (77) 3 Teaching methods and programs University Social Responsibility Strategies Tomasz J. Dąbrowski* Halina Brdulak* Ewa Jastrzębska* Paulina Legutko-Kobus* As the social responsibility notion developed, it caught the deliberations in 1953, when the book Social Responsi- interest of not only businesses but also other organizations, bilities of the Businessman by Howard Bowen came out. including universities. Drawing from various experiences, For over half a century, businesses were the main – if they began to create their own strategies in this respect. not the only – area of interest for CSR researchers. In The objective of the article is to explore the relatively new time, however, the interest started to extend to other phenomenon of universities creating formalized social re- entities, including universities. As their strategies fa- sponsibility strategies. Although far from being a mass-scale iled to account for social responsibility activities, they phenomenon (only a small percentage of universities have were not treated as subjects worth studying for quite developed such strategies so far), it already has a global some time. That element was missing in university range (the strategies are created by universities on various strategies largely because of the implicit assumption continents). The research problem addressed in this article that such organizations are socially responsible per involves diagnosing whether the phenomenon of creating se. However, this approach has been changing over university social responsibility strategies is becoming more the past few years. commonplace, as well as identifying the emerging variants The objective of the article is to explore the insti- of such strategies and how they are related to the general tutionalization of university social responsibility and development strategies of universities.1 to identify the strategies that are being adopted in this respect. Social responsibility is understood in the The concept of activities going beyond the per- spirit of the Erfurt Declaration – as a commitment sonal, egoistic interest of an individual or the group to play a central part in the identification of social and to which the individual belongs and of considering economic needs and in helping to meet these needs (The the interest of the whole community in which the Erfurt Declaration on University Autonomy, 1996, individual or group functions in such activities has p. V). One might adopt a thesis that due to the gro- accompanied the humanity since the dawn of time. wing interest in this issue on the part of universities The roots of such conduct may be sought in biological from various countries, more and more universities determinants analyzed from the perspective of evolu- introduce social responsibility strategies, which in tionary psychology or in axiology, and the rules that turn results in their diversity. lay the foundations for the oldest religious systems, The article consists of three parts. The first part or perhaps in the economic benefits described both in presents various research trends in studies related the literature in this field and in the literature devoted to organizational social responsibility. Such trends to management science. Management is an area that emerged based on corporate social responsibility rese- has been the most committed to taking a wider social arch, as it was the discussion about the scope of such interest into consideration, in the context of not only responsibility that triggered the development of the the actions of single individuals or their informal gro- concept as a whole. The presentation of such trends ups but also of entire organizations. This commitment makes it possible to illustrate how the deliberations can be found in the development of such concepts as: on university social responsibility fit into that rese- corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate social arch. After the overview of the wider background, the responsiveness, corporate social performance, corpo- subsequent part introduces the results of the author’s rate citizenship or sustainable development. studies on the proliferation dynamics of the active The notion of corporate social responsibility is approach to the implementation and communication considered to have originated as an object of scientific of various social responsibility activities among uni- * SGH Warsaw School of Economics 1 The article was written as part of an inter-college grant ‘Strategy of universities’ social responsibility’ awarded by the Rector of the SGH Warsaw School of Economics in 2018 (No. RG/SSO/18). 4 e-mentor nr 5 (77) University Social Responsibility Strategies versities. The geographic distribution of universities ment. And this responsibility can also be approached involved in such activities is also presented. The final in relation to other aspects and intra-organizational part of the article includes the results of in-depth areas of activity. For example, there is a trend of studies that depict how the scope of social responsi- exploring the ethics-based endogenous factors that bility strategies differs from university to university encourage organizations to engage in socially respon- and how these strategies are related to the general sible conduct. It is assumed that socially responsible development strategies of particular entities. conduct of an organization is the outcome of its members appropriate and moral choices dictated by Development of the concept the organization’s standards in this respect rather of organizational social responsibility than an effect of their commitment to perform the obligations towards the whole society or single stake- Initiated in the 1950s, the organizational social holder groups. The organizational culture, including responsibility research focusing on entities from the the system of values it is based on, is believed to play business area has always been, and continues to be, a crucial role in the development of ethical standards diverse. The range of the issues covered has evolved, (Jones, 1995, pp. 404–437). As far as universities are which resulted in various research trends (Maignan, concerned, the issue of ethics is usually analyzed Ferrell, 2004, p. 4). The initial discussion centered on in two contexts. First – as the application of moral the attempts to establish the boundaries of the area of values in the relations between universities and their social responsibility. The supporters of restricting this stakeholders (both internal and external) or in a bro- responsibility to the performance of mainly economic ader