The USR Summit is a biennial flagship event of the University Social Responsibility Network (USRN), a global alliance comprised of 16 universities unified by one mission, which is to steer global discussion and advocacy for broader social responsibility in the higher education. Every alternate year, the USRN member institutions take turns hosting the International USR Summit. The Summit serves as an effective platform to connect and foster partnership among world renowned universities to share insights in advancing university social responsibility, generating social impact and driving sustainable development of the world.

The last USR Summit was co-hosted by the University of Haifa, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Israel from 2 to 4 December 2018. The Summit gathered over 100 senior government officials, academics, community leaders and students of higher education institutions from various countries to discuss the role of universities on the theme of “Universities’ Social Responsibility in Shaping a Future of Critical Hope”.

USR Summit 2021 will be hosted by the University of Pretoria from 3 to 5 February. Due to the ongoing pandemic outbreak, the Summit will be held virtually. The 2021 Summit aims to advance the scholarship and practice of University Social Responsibility in higher education by focusing on the broad theme of “University Social Responsibility: Priorities for the Next Decade“. An impressive number of proposed presentations that look into USR from diverse perspectives have been received. The Summit promises to be a very productive event.

We invite you to participate in this very important event of the USRN from 3 to 5 February next year through a virtual platform from South Africa. Please click here to register for the Summit. The provisional programme of the Summit can be viewed at the Summit website.

More details of the USR Summit 2021 will be annouced through the Summit website. If you have questions regariding the Summit, please contact the USRN Secretariat at usrn.sec@polyu.edu.hk.