UNIVERSITY SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ECOINNOVATION: PEDAGOGICAL DIMENSIONS FOR SUSTAINABILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

University Social Responsibility (USR) has been largely addressed in the literature as an ethical management policy focused on mitigating institutional impacts. This article proposes shifting the axis of this discussion: rather than treating USR merely as a managerial tool, it argues that USR constitutes a pedagogical and systemic innovation capable of reconfiguring formative processes in Higher Education. Through a strict qualitative and interpretive bibliographic research (Minayo, 2009), the methodological pathway incorporated Generative AI as a supporting tool for selective and analytical reading, as well as thematic coding. The text reconstructs the trajectory of USR, articulates the inseparability of teaching, research, and outreach in light of the curricularization of outreach, and establishes a theoretical triangulation with ecoinnovation and Schumpeterian creative destruction. Furthermore, it connects this dynamic to the evaluation instruments of SINAES/INEP and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It concludes that when integrated into curricula and teaching practices, USR ceases to be a declarative discourse and functions as an innovation in the way of teaching, researching, and educating citizens for real socio-environmental challenges.